Perfection
by Arynia
Summary: AU: Orochimaru decides to create the perfect host by combining Akatsuki's abilities, and selects Naruto for the 'honour.' Sacrificed by the elders to appease Orochimaru, Naruto can become the greatest shinobi ever seen - or the ultimate monster.
1. Chapter 1

**Perfection**

**I own neither Naruto nor the basic idea of this plot. They belong to Kishimoto and dracohalo117 respectively.**

**This idea was on the profile of dracohalo117. I wrote to him and asked for permission to use it, which I'm pleased to say he said yes to. I am aware that there is another version of this fic, but apart from the obvious, this fic isn't really like that one. Having said that, I did write to Thanathos to check that he was okay with it before I started on this, so don't start moaning about plagiarism. To anyone that's read the idea on dracohalo117's profile, I've changed a few things, most notably the 'good Akatsuki aspect.' I don't mind stories like that, but I just prefer them as villains.**

Perfection.

Orochimaru had always wanted to achieve it. Even as a child, he had longed to be the strongest, and he had critically examined the ninja of Konoha, shaking his head as he observed them. This one could have much better aim if he wasn't missing some fingers, this one could reach so much further if he only hardened his heart to killing, this one would have so much potential if he didn't drown his sorrow in alcohol, this one could become so easily become Hokage if he only had a bloodline to help back his skills.

Eventually, he had reached the conclusion that every ninja had a flaw holding him back, and to be the strongest, Orochimaru would have to rid himself of any flaws, so that he could reach his full potential.

However, instead of seeking to improve the things that needed to be improving, such as his ego and sadism, Orochimaru had turned to his physical form. Any other ninja would have found nothing wrong with his body - it had all four limbs, all five senses, was fast and strong. But Orochimaru's eyes still found weaknesses. His body had no special ability, no bloodline to elevate him above the rest. He had worked hard to become one of the greatest ninja in the world, but one mistake on the battlefield and it would all be wiped away. And even if he managed to live to a ripe old age, his body would still weaken and shrivel until it crumbled into dust, unable to hold back the ravages of time.

No, his body was not perfect by any means. But Orochimaru vowed that he would make it so.

It was almost stupidly easy to get his hands on test subjects. Despite the wars that had raged across the continents, the civilians of Konoha trusted their ninja to keep them safe. It never occurred to them that those same ninja could attack them as they attacked the civilians of the other villages.

First he only used the scraps, the shadows of humanity on the streets, who had no one to miss them or care about their well-being. No one had noticed, and so he grew bolder, and took the children from the orphanages, which were filled to bursting after the wars. Again, no one seemed to realize that people were disappearing, and for a few years, Orochimaru worked in peace; cutting, injecting, extracting, stitching, slicing, carving and crushing as he sought to unlock secrets that should have been left well alone.

And unlock them he did. After countless experiments, which cost as many lives, he invented not only a jutsu that would allow him to exchange his body for another's, extending his life in the process, but also many others, which could not have been discovered without the use of his experiments. Many times, Orochimaru had paused within the middle of an experiment, and stared down at skin parted to reveal the glistening red flesh beneath, unable to believe that so much power could be found within the bodies of the weak.

However, there was only so much that the weak could give him. For every secret he discovered, it was not unusual for fifty subjects to die in the process of discovering it. They died in many ways; his own carelessness, shock, biting through their own tongues so that they drowned in their own blood while strapped down to tables, mistakes spawned from his lack of medical knowledge, but it didn't really bother him, only the fact that he had to keep replacing them, which was irksome. But after thirty men died as he tried to find a way to create an immunity to fire, Orochimaru was forced to look for superior test subjects, those with strong bodies, those who regularly pushed themselves to their limits and beyond.

Shinobi.

He had at first only gone for ninjas from outside the village, not out of a sense of loyalty, but because they would not be noticed by Konoha. But the number of shinobi who went near enough to Konoha for them to be snatched, but were unimportant enough that no one would notice were few and far between. So Orochimaru had turned to the shinobi of Konoha to provide subjects, snatching them in the dead of night and carting them off to the laboratories that he had hidden so carefully underneath the abandoned buildings of Konoha.

He was cautious, naturally. He did not take the strongest of the strong, did not steal away the elite, no matter how much his fingers itched to wield a scalpel against the flesh of Konoha's White Fang, or dissect that strange student of Jiraiya, who had been labelled the prodigy that might even surpass him, though his eyes flashed whenever someone mentioned the brat possibly becoming a better ninja than him. It was ludicrous to even think that someone trained by the 'dead-last' to ever surpass the genius, a fantasy that his foolish teammate could only dream about as he ruffled the golden hair of his favourite student.

But then came the blow that had shocked both Konoha and Orochimaru. Instead of choosing his own student, the one that he had praised above all others, the Sandaime had selected Namikaze Minato, determining that he was more fit to be the Yondaime that Orochimaru. It was a bitter blow, but more importantly, it was a sign that the Sandaime had detected, if only slightly, the darkness that lurked in his favoured student.

So, Orochimaru had begun to quietly shift his work from Konoha to the hideouts he had slowly constructed on his many trips away from Konoha, keeping only the most delicate subjects in the village. On one of his visits to his largest hideout, he was approached by a member from Akatsuki, an organization of S-class missing-nins that was based in Ame. Intrigued, Orochimaru had listened to the man, a strange fellow that was hunched on the ground, almost as if he was crawling along it, and found out that they were gathering members. Deciding to keep the offer in mind, he returned to Konoha, his mind ever-whirring with ideas to test out on the unfortunates in his labs.

But still, the bitterness from not being chosen as the Yondaime remained, and slowly fanned into rage. And from that rage sprang carelessness.

He had limited himself to only taking genin and chunin, the ordinary ones that wouldn't be missed too badly. After all, losing poorly-skilled ninja during missions was not that uncommon, though it happened less with Konoha than the other villages. But as his rage searched for an outlet and he lost more subjects due to his carelessness during experiments, Orochimaru began snatching more and more. He did not just take genin and chunin, but also abducted jonin, ANBU, and even some academy students, wanting to see how they would react to his tests compared to the elite.

People had begun to realize that villagers were being snatched away in the night, and reported to the Sandaime, who searched frantically for the culprit. And then had come that fateful night, when the old man had confronted him, the two facing each other across a battlefield of restricted scrolls scattered across the ground.

Orochimaru had fled, feeling anger and a bittersweet triumph course through him, for he knew that the only reason he was not dead was because Sarutobi had been too weak to kill the man he had thought of as a son. He then decided to head to Ame, hoping that the organization could offer him as much value as the citizens of Konoha had.

It didn't.

It offered him so much more.

Upon arriving, Orochimaru had been introduced to the leader of Akatsuki, Pein, and his partner. His shock at seeing two of the brats that Jiraiya had taken an interest in after their battle with Hanzo was only surpassed by his glee when he saw the eyes of the orange-haired man. Orochimaru's leg had been black for a week from where he'd kicked himself after learning that the Rinnegan, said to be the most powerful of the dojutsu, had been within ten feet of him and he'd missed it. But now it seemed that he had a second chance at gaining it, and the Sannin was most certainly not going to waste it.

He was also impressed by the man's partner. He vaguely recalled Jiraiya saying that the girl of the group had had some skill in folding paper, but either his teammate had been holding back considerably, or Konan had spent a lot of time honing her skills since Jiraiya had left them. Orochimaru witnessed her create practically everything a shinobi would need out of paper, even fly by use of hundreds of pieces of paper stuck together to form graceful wings. While not a conventional method of fighting, Konan's origami was certainly a key part in her status as an S-class shinobi.

The leader explained to Orochimaru what their goal was, though the Sannin sensed that he was holding a few things back. First of all, they would gather money by accepting missions at a lower cost than the main villages would. This would not only gain money for the organization, but it would also deprive the main villages of some of their income, an idea that Orochimaru approved of.

Their second goal was to gather the bjuu, and though the leader didn't say why, Orochimaru had a few guesses. Each of the nine demons had an incredible amount of chakra, and were capable of wreaking destruction that shinobi could never hope to match. One on their own made a powerful weapon. All nine of them together...Well, the villages would be falling over themselves in their haste to surrender.

However, they would not be going after the bjuu for a while, as they needed to gather information, as well as other members. In the mean time, they would simply collect money in teams of two, which they would remain in for a long time unless one member died, or was replaced for any other reason.

* * *

Orochimaru smirked as he leaned back against the tree, watching the young man kneel down next to a puppet. He had assumed that the grotesque figure that had invited him to join the organization was Sasori's real form, but during a fight with a missing-nin that was skilled in wind jutsus, the puppet had been blown apart, revealing a redhead who seemed to be in his late teens.

The fight was over, the missing-nin dead and his bounty collected, and now all that was left to do was for Sasori to fix the broken puppet. He was clearly very skilled, and soon the cracked shell of the puppet had been repaired without so much as a scratch to show where it had been damaged. Satisfied, Sasori unsealed several other puppets and began to tinker with them.

Orochimaru meanwhile observed Sasori with interest. His nose, refined by a procedure that had cost several civilians their looks - and lives - as he dissected their faces in an attempt to study how to do it, told him that Sasori's scent was comprised of the smell of wood, oil, and metal. Not unusual for a puppeteer, except for the fact that Sasori's scent had very little in the way of an ordinary human scent - something that was not usual for a puppeteer. Could the rumours he had heard from his spies be true?

However, his interest was diverted from Sasori as the redhead unsealed another puppet from a scroll, and began to carefully examine it, checking over for any flaws. Orochimaru's eyes bulged as he took in the messy black hair and the sweeping brown robe, the sight taking him back to a time before the Third Shinobi War, where Sarutobi had taken his team on a diplomatic mission. Orochimaru remembered standing in front of a desk, feeling naked without any kunai or shruiken by his side, though his sensei had warned them that metal weapons would be more of a hindrance than a help, thanks to the kekkei genkai of the Sandaime Kazekage, who could had manipulate the magnetic field.

Now the greatest Kazekage in the history of Suna stood before Sasori, clearly held up by chakra strings. Orochimaru could tell that the man was dead, but his body seemed to not have deteriorated at all. A quick sniff told him that the Kazkage's body had had chemicals used on it, probably to preserve it, while it also seemed to have had metal added, a suspicion that was confirmed as the Sannin took a closer look and noticed a joint where the Kazekage's neck met his head.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. He had seen Sasori use puppets in action before, but had not paid them much heed. But now as he looked back, they had possessed abilities that even a master puppet-maker should not have been able to install. However, a human with a bloodline could have conceivably used them. So...

_'He seems to have found a way to create puppets out of shinobi, while preserving their abilities! And if he can do that, there's no reason why I can't work with the genetic material. This is wonderful!'_

Indeed it was. For if the Kazekage's body was intact, then that meant that his kekkei genkai was up for grabs as well.

His partner had just gotten a lot more interesting.

* * *

It was not long until Orochimaru met the three other members of the organization, and he was delighted by them. He had known that they would be powerful, but not that they would possess such a goldmine of potential for his own use.

Hoshigaki Kisame was a face he remembered well from the bingo books. The shark-like man was a member of the Hoshigaki clan, which had practically died out in recent years thanks to the bloodline purges of Kiri. As Orochimaru recalled, they were famous not only for their blue skin, large chakra reserves and gills, which let them breathe underwater for a short period of time, but also for their swords, which were grown rather than made by feeding chakra to fragments of earlier created swords, and could 'eat' chakra. Rumour had it that the tradition had started when one of Kisame's ancestors had fought the Sanbi, and left the battle bleeding and broken, but triumphantly carrying one of the bjuu's scales.

Kakuzu, he found out, was the reason why Akatsuki had so little members at this point. The man was incredibly violent, and had killed two of the partners that had been given to him. He was also greedy, and had a deep obsession for money. But that was not why Orochimaru was interested in him.

Kakuzu had somehow transformed his entire body into a mass of thick black thread that was hidden under his skin. Orochimaru and Sasori had been paired up with him on a few missions, and Orochimaru had observed him manipulate the threads outside of his body for various purposes. However, what interested him the most was the form of immortality that came with it. Kakuzu was able to rip out the hearts of others, and then store them within his own body, not only extending his own life, but also granting the chakra and elemental abilities of the shinobi that he had taken the hearts from.

Orochimaru would have gone green with envy if it had been within his facial colour palette. The idea was not so dissimilar to his own, and yet it was almost improved. If it were not for Kakuzu's prowess as a shinobi and his own desire for more than what the violent man offered, he might have tried taking him for a host.

And then there was Zetsu. Orochimaru saw him rarely, as Zetsu worked alone as the organization's spy, and reported directly to their leader. But what he did see intrigued him. Zetsu had shown the ability to be able to pass through solid matter, and also to sink into the ground and reappear a fair distance away in a very short amount of time. Such a skill could prove to be very useful, though Orochimaru was not as interested in it as the others.

For a few months, he and the other members continued their work, collecting bounties and quietly gathering information on the bjuu and their jinchuriki. Orochimaru was assigned the Ichibi, but seeing as he would not be going after it for a few years, he didn't pay much attention to it.

Then a new member arrived. Hidan, a former shinobi of Yukagakure, left after killing his neighbours. At first, Orochimaru had not seen anything special about him. Hidan was skilled with a scythe, that was true, but he was not as skilled as some of even the Konoha shinobi, and he was incredibly disrespectful and rather arrogant. Orochimaru had dismissed him as useless for his research - until he saw him fight.

They were up against a group of rogue ANBU, all of whom had a hefty bounty on their head. While Orochimaru dealt with the leader of the group, Hidan faced off against another, who was very skilled with a katana. Orochimaru had just turned from the corpse of his foe when he saw the ANBU slicing at Hidan's neck. Even if he had wanted to shout a warning, it would be too late.

Hidan's head fell to the ground, and the ANBU scoffed. "That was pathet-"

Then Hidan's mouth opened, and to Orochimaru's astonishment, began to yell at Kakuzu to hurry up and fix him.

It was then that Orochimaru discovered Hidan's power. A member of the cult of Jashin, he was the result of their secret jutsu, which had transformed his body into something that simply would not die. Add that to his ritual that allowed him to inflict wounds on his opponent by attacking himself, and Orochimaru realized why Hidan was not as skilled as the other members - he didn't need to be. One drop of blood, and he had already won the fight.

Such an ability was something that interested the Sannin very much. Thanks to a jutsu he had created while in Konoha, he had the ability to regurgitate a new body from his mouth, in the event of getting a wound too serious to ignore. However, the technique required a large amount of chakra to use, and he could be finished off while trying to perform it. But Hidan did not have to use any chakra to keep himself alive - his body did it all for him - and he could only be stopped by chopping him into tiny pieces, but even that could be fixed by Kakuzu.

Time passed, and soon they were called back to Ame, as Pein liked to check on his subordinates, though the visits were growing fewer as time passed. Once he had given his report, Orochimaru took his leave, and began to wander around Ame, noting with amusement that he was given revered looks due to his cloak. Really, it was pathetic how some people just had to find someone to worship, not even bothering to gain power-

Suddenly he came to a halt, staring up at a building. On its roof was a blue-haired woman he recognized as Konan, who was standing next to a figure with orange hair and rippled eyes. But this was not the leader of Akatsuki, this was another man altogether. Orochimaru's eyes widened greedily. There was more than one source of the Rinnegan?

He waited until both Konan and the figure had gone before summoning a snake and ordering it to track the figure down. The snake complied, and led him to a building that was heavily guarded by both guards and traps. Orochimaru didn't doubt that he could break through, but if he did, someone would probably notice. Still, he made a note of the building before leaving. He had sensed more than one chakra signature, but the strange thing was, five seemed to be almost echoes of the same one. This would merit some investigation.

* * *

As he busied himself with setting up a new hideout in the Land of Rice, one that he had decided would be his main headquarters, Orochimaru reflected on his fellow members. All of them possessed power that he wanted, and he could not decide which one interested him more. Pein, with his legendary dojutsu? Konan, with her origami skills that he was sure he could mold to his own uses? Kisame, with his clever little sword that could eat chakra and seemed to be sentient? Sasori and his puppet? Kakuzu with his small form of immortality and those useful black threads? Hidan with his apparent immunity to death and clever little ritual? Zetsu with his strange powers that Orochimaru was already envisioning various uses for?

He could not decide, and it annoyed him. He wished to try out his body-switch jutsu soon, but when he left his body, he wanted to go to a better one. No, not just a better one - he wanted to have the _best. _But which one would be that be?

_'If only one of them possessed the powers of the others! They would truly be the ultimate host-'_

And that was when it hit him.

Despite the failure of the Mokuton transfer (well, at least, he thought it was a failure. There was a niggling suspicion that he thought he saw the chest of one of the infants rising and falling, but it was probably just his imagination) Orochimaru had not given up on the idea of grafting abilities on to another. In fact, thanks to a boy with a strange disorder, he had managed to create a new, more powerful version of the curse seal. The survival rate was one in ten, true, but as far as he was concerned, that was also a good thing. Only the strongest could survive it, and he would not have any weaklings bear his mark.

But the curse seal was not the only thing he had been able to graft. He had taken the kekkei genkai of several minor clans that lived in the Land of Rice, and managed to replicate it in others. The death rate was as high as the curse mark, higher in some cases, but that did not matter to Orochimaru, only the fact that it could be done.

And if he could transfer the abilities of Akatsuki...his mouth watered at the implications. He would have the ultimate host, one that would finally be able to achieve what his own body was unable to-

Perfection.

* * *

Orochimaru knew that he would have to be incredibly careful. His associates were S-class missing-nins, and they would not appreciate someone trying to replicate their abilities. Not only that, but they rarely came together at the same time, and he needed to be able to gather what he needed in a short span of time, so that one would not notice the materials missing and inform the others before he could flee. And he would need to flee - Sasori especially would not be amused by what Orochimaru intended to steal.

But there was one occasion where all of the members would gather together in the same place - when a new member joined. And Orochimaru had it on good authority that their number was going to be up by one very soon. It was at that point that he would act.

So he carefully made notes of what he needed, and began to delve into the mystery of the strange figure with the Rinnegan. For he knew that he had little chance of getting what he wanted from Pein - the man was extremely powerful; if he was not, Orochimaru would never have called him 'leader.'

It took some time, but eventually, he found the answer.

Pein seemed to have made use of corpses as eyes and ears, and somehow had gifted them with the Rinnegan. Orochimaru wasn't sure of exactly how the process worked, only that it let him use them as if they were his own bodies, and that the corpses were transformed by those strange piercings.

Seeing as Orochimaru had never encountered anything like this before, he would have have to take a gamble. Though stealing a sample from the leader would be impossible, the corpses, which remained in a hidden room in a coma-like state most of the time, were another matter. However, he was not sure if they now contained the genetic information needed for the Rinnegan, or it was just a jutsu that had nothing to do with them. He could only hope that it was the former, otherwise he would not be able to replicate it.

But now he knew what he had to do. All that was left was to act.

* * *

Orochimaru plunged his sword into the chest of the missing-nin, a sadistic grin on his face. The man, an A-rank shinobi from Iwa, slumped to the ground and his partner gasped as he saw him. "Daichi!"

His distraction cost him dearly, as one of Sasori's puppets came up from behind and stabbed him in the back. The man choked before toppling over. Sasori eyed the corpse before taking a scroll out of the pouch at his side, the one where he kept all of his puppets when they sealed. Orochimaru drifted over. "You intend to turn him into a puppet?"

Sasori nodded. "He showed skill."

"Indeed." Orochimaru knelt by Sasori's side, pretending to look over the corpse. "But are you sure that you wish to do that? Leader-sama asked us to collect bounties after all."

Sasori shot him an annoyed look before turning back to the dead body. "Yes, I'm sure. Now, we must leave soon. Leader expects us to be present when the new member arrives, and I hate to keep people waiting."

Orochimaru nodded, and rose to his feet, turning away to hide the scroll that he had replaced with an empty one in Sasori's open pouch when the puppet-master was occupied. _'Kukuku...One down, now just six to go.'_

* * *

To Orochimaru's joy, he managed to retrieve two more samples before even reaching Ame. He and Sasori found 'the Zombie Brothers' as Kisame had dubbed them fighting against a group of bounty hunters. It was one-sided really - the hunters had no chance against the combined efforts of two S-class ninjas - but Hidan had decided to drag it out with his ritual.

When Orochimaru arrived on the scene, there was only one hunter-nin left, who was covered in deep gashes that matched those on Hidan's body exactly. As he and Sasori approached, the silver-haired Jashinist plunged his pike into his own heart, and the hunter-nin fell to the floor.

Hidan pulled the pike out of his chest, giving it a shake. "Man, that fucking hurt like hell!"

Kakuzu, long since finished with his own opponent, shook his head at Hidan. "If you hadn't wasted your time with that ritual, you wouldn't be in that mess."

"Shut it, heathen! Jashin-sama fucking demands blood!"

As they argued, Orochimaru stooped down and discretely used a syringe to suck up the blood that had splattered the area from Hidan's self-mutilation. This was a golden opportunity after all, and he couldn't afford to waste it, not when he was on such a tight schedule.

Suddenly, his eyes caught a flicker of black and white, and he threw a kunai in its direction. Zetsu, who had just risen from the ground, put a hand to his cheek where the kunai had sliced it. His eyes narrowed at Orochimaru. "Don't **do **that ever **again!"**

Orochimaru smiled. "My apologies. I'm just a little tense."

Zetsu glared at him, but turned to the others. "Leader-**sama **expects you to **arrive promptly. Don't **be late."

With that, he sank into the ground and vanished.

Orochimaru walked over to the kunai that was now lodged in the ground, and scooped it up. He smirked as he saw that it was coated with a strange muddy-brown liquid, which was quickly added into another syringe underneath his cloak. "We should head back. We don't want to be late now, do we?"

* * *

Pein. Konan. Kisame. Kakuzu. It was those four that Orochimaru still needed samples from, and he would have to go about it carefully. But he had thought it over, and believed that he could do it.

As they stepped into Ame, Konan appeared before them in a swirl of paper. "We've been waiting for you."

Sasori grunted. "Blame Hidan. We were held up by his rituals."

"Oh, go and play with your fucking dolls! My ritual is important!"

Konan glared at Hidan, who rolled his eyes but fell silent. "You have wasted enough time. Come."

They followed her in, Hidan muttering darkly about someone calling his ritual a waste of time.

As they lowered their heads against the relentless downpour that was always present in Ame, no one noticed the piece of paper trapped in Orochimaru's fist.

* * *

Orochimaru hissed in excitement as he watched the new member being greeted by their leader. The boy was an Uchiha! A member of the clan that he had always envied for their bloodline, the powerful sharingan that could copy any jutsu they desired. And not only that, but the boy was non other than Uchiha Itachi, the heir and prodigy of the clan! With his body, Orochimaru was certain that he could bring the land to its knees - and that was just while he waited for his later host to be perfected!

He had originally intended to just leave with the samples, but now the Uchiha had provided an opportunity for Orochimaru to test out his jutsu, and it would be rather ungrateful to waste it, would it not?

But first he had to gather samples from Pein, Kazkuzu and Kisame, or rather, Kisame's Samehada. This could prove to be tricky, but Orochimaru was confident that he could do it.

Behind the Sannin, Hidan and Kazkuzu were arguing again, and Kakuzu was clearly beginning to get annoyed with his partner. He lifted his arm, ready to send some of his black threads at the Jashinist. But then a pale hand rested on his shoulder. "Kukuku...You shouldn't be fighting. You are partners, after all."

Kakuzu snorted, and shook his arm free of Orochimaru's grip, not noticing the black threads that remained between the Sannin's fingers, though they quickly vanished inside his cloak.

* * *

The Sannin quickly stepped inside the room, panting heavily. The various safeguards around the building protecting the body had been more difficult to combat than he thought, and he was aware that Pein probably knew that they had been breached. He had to work fast, before anyone else arrived.

He walked over to the nearest body lying motionless in a strange contraption, ready to dart away if it showed a hint of moving. But from what he had observed, the bodies were controlled by those strange piercings, and deactivated when they were not needed, becoming nothing more than corpses once again until Pein commanded them to move.

Even so, Orochimaru worked quickly, snipping away hair from each body and yanking out a few piercings as well, intending to study them as well. Once he was done, he sealed away the samples and left the room. He had already collected a sample from Samehada, picking out the scales embedded in Kisame's training dummies from where the shark-man had gone overboard, which left just one last member - Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

Orochimaru panted as he stared at Itachi in rage. The Uchiha stared back stoically, seeming to be unmoved by the killing intent that the Snake Sannin was pouring out. "Orochimaru, any technique you use will be useless before these eyes."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth even as he stared longingly at the Uchiha's eyes, which seemed to be different than the normal sharingan, especially if that hellish technique he had just been through was any indication. He could almost feel the spikes impaling his body again and again, as he realized that he had been beaten by a mere child.

He snarled at the thought and lunged forward. But Itachi was faster, and he brought the kunai arching down just as Orochimaru's fingers reached his head.

Pain stabbed through Orochimaru's wrist as he stared at his hand, now lying on the floor. He had never felt such raw fury before. It almost encompassed the throbbing that he felt from the stump where his hand had been, the hand that was now lying pathetically on the ground, its fingers limp-

Orochimaru's eyes widened. For snagged between the useless digits were several strands of black hair that had not been there before he attacked the Uchiha. His mind quickly ran through several scenarios. He had failed in his bid to take over Itachi's body, that much was obvious. But with the genetic material from the boy's hairs...

Well, his perfect body would not be perfect without the sharingan, would it?

He thrust forward his other hand, and a snake sprung forward, grasping the severed hand before Orochimaru darted away through the trees. He might have been bested by the Uchiha now, but he would wait, he would sharpen his skills, and he would create the perfect body.

Then he would return to slay the Akatsuki, and give Itachi the pleasure of knowing what the sharingan was capable of in the grasp of a man like himself before he ended the wretched child's life.

* * *

The guard standing outside of the base was bored out of his mind. It wasn't fair. Inside the base, you got to mess around with the prisoners, and it was a lot warmer in there as well. But no, he had to get stuck with guard duty, standing outside in the cold for hours on end, while thinking mournfully of the pretty girls that Orochimaru had never minded them playing with as long as they didn't damage them too much.

Suddenly, there was a noise which jolted him out of his grumbling. He narrowed his eyes, squinting through the mist that always drifted over in the early morning. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

A figure staggered out of the mist, and the guard gasped. "Orochimaru-sama?"

The Snake Sannin was in a bad shape. He had managed to perform a medical ninjutsu that limited the bleeding, but it was crude, and his sight was beginning to blur from the pain. Due to his white skin, it was difficult to see if he had got any paler, but his harsh breathing would have told anyone that there was something wrong even if they didn't see the stump where his hand had been.

The guard rushed forward to help, but Orochimaru waved him away as he strode forward. "I...am going...to my quarters. Send one...of the prisoners...there."

The guard frowned. "Which one, Orochimaru-sama?"

Orochimaru hissed. "Anyone!"

The guard paled, and quickly rushed off to the dungeons, not wanting to be the target of the wrath that Orochimaru was clearly only barely holding back.

He dragged the wife of the daimyo of the Land of Rice from out of the cell they had shoved her in earlier after kidnapping her for some leverage over the man. Despite the fear in her eyes, the woman had been raised from birth to be quiet and dignified at all times, and so she allowed the guard to lead her to Orochimaru's chambers, vowing to herself that she would not scream, no matter what he did to her.

It took only five seconds after Orochimaru began the jutsu for her to break her vow.

* * *

Orochimaru seethed as he looked at himself in the mirror. The face staring back at him could be considered pretty by some, with long glossy brown hair, dark eyes, and full pink lips. But that was all it was. A pretty face with a useless body; a gilded prison that he was to be trapped in for the next three years!

Hissing angrily, the Sannin slumped back into his chair, glancing around the room, which was an odd mix of a lab and a study. The walls were painted white with swirling patterns of red, gold and black, while the floor was white tiles, with elaborate rugs scattered over one half of them. Bookcases lined the walls, containing everything from fantasy tales (collected by Orochimaru while he researched legends about wild spirits who were immortal) to medical textbooks. A comfortable armchair faced a steel table, which had leather straps hanging off the sides.

The brown fabric was stained from where it had cut into frantically struggling limbs, the owners desperately trying to get free as Orochimaru wielded the glinting tools that were kept in the display cases by the door. Inspiration could strike him at any time, and he liked to be able test out his ideas on cruder models within the comfort of his room without having to bother to go down to the laboratories where the _real _work was done.

There was a knock on the door, and Orochimaru looked up, though he already knew who it was. The experiments he had performed on himself had granted him the senses of a snake after all, and he knew the scent of the man outside the door very well. He passed a hand over his face, and when he took it away, the features of his new body were replaced by the snake-like ones of his old form. "Enter."

The door swung open, the oiled hinges not giving so much as a creak, and inside stepped Mizuki. "Orochimaru-sama? You summoned me?"

Orochimaru smirked when he saw him. Though Mizuki was nothing more than a pawn, he was certainly a useful one. Though after a few incidents, he was watched like a hawk on missions with teammates, document-carrying missions were not really looked at beyond the fact that the document had arrived where it was supposed to; meaning that Mizuki was able to show him quite a lot of Konoha's minor documents, which added up to quite a helpful amount of information for anyone interesting in invading.

Of course, Orochimaru was not delusional. He knew that he would not be able to take on his old village for a very long time, and it would require careful planning, as well as a considerable increase in the size of his army. But the Sannin was patient, and he was sure that he, the one destined to learn every jutsu in the world, to access the secrets of immortality, could prevail against a village of weaklings. After all, he had easily beaten Jiraiya, and his old teammate had been heralded as one of the strongest Konoha had ever seen.

However, there was a few small matters that he had to currently attend to. The most important one was that he was slowly but surely running out of test subjects. They died so easily, yet gathering the quantity he needed was proving...irksome. He couldn't turn everyone that came to him looking for power into experiments - he had an army to build, after all.

"Yes. Tell me, Mizuki-kun, when do you return to Konoha?"

Mizuki frowned. "With your permission, Orochimaru-sama, I'd like to return as soon as possible. I fear that the Sandaime suspects that I've been straying from the missions he's assigned me."

Orochimaru leaned back in his chair, pretending to mull this over. In fact, he already knew that the Sandaime had suspected Mizuki for far longer than the chunin realized. But he saw no need to inform the chunin of that. He preferred for the pawns to not know the entire strength of the king.

"Very well. But before you go, I have something for you to take back."

Mizuki looked excited as Orochimaru reached over to his desk with an extended arm and picked up a scroll. "What is it, Orochimaru-sama? Some powerful jutsus? A new formulae? A-"

Orochimaru chuckled. "No, not that it concerns you. I wish for you to take this scroll back to Konoha, and leave it in the hole in the wall of the alley next to that...quaint little ramen stand. It will then be retrieved by another one of my agents."

Mizuki nodded, looking sulky that the scroll was not for him, and accepted it from the Sannin before leaving the room. Orochimaru knew that he wouldn't dare open it - the silver-haired man knew the price for 'betrayal.'

Chuckling softly to himself, Orochimaru rose to his feet, feeling a light hunger within his stomach. "I wonder what Sarutobi-sensei would say if he knew how well Homura, Koharu and I were getting along?"

* * *

Sasori frowned as he leaned over the worktable, varnishing the face of his latest puppet, a pretty girl with blue hair and orange eyes. He was in a house on the outskirts of Iwa, a place he had bought before he had truly become a master of puppets. After learning that he no longer had a partner, he had decided to spend some leisurely time with his art before Pein found a replacement for Orochimaru.

A shame that the man had gone - he was very talented, and having one of the Sannin as their members had been very useful for Akatsuki - but it was not entirely unexpected. He had always suspected that Orochimaru was placing his goals above that of Akatsuki. His attempted theft of their new member's body only confirmed that suspicion, and placed him on the list of people to be eliminated, though not right now. The Sannin was powerful, but he would not try to attack them, at least not for a long time.

But still, Sasori couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on what, but there was definitely something amiss.

Sasori tried to shake the feeling off, and reached for his pouch of scrolls. Working on his favourite puppet always soothed him, not to mention the fact that looking at the Sandaime Kazekage that _he _had defeated and transformed into a true piece of art gave him no small amount of pride.

He frowned as he glanced at the pouch. He couldn't seem to spot the scroll that the Kazekage was sealed in, despite the fact that he was sure that he had placed it on top of the pile. He yanked the pouch fully open and peered inside, but still he couldn't spot it.

Feeling an increasing amount of panic, Sasori tipped the scrolls out onto the floor, and frantically searched through them. But it was to no avail - the scroll was gone.

Sasori rocked back onto his heels, dumbfounded. The Kazekage was gone? But how-

He froze, thinking over the events of the last few days. Then his eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists, feeling anger burn through him, the likes of which he had not felt for many years.

Orochimaru would _pay._

* * *

The Snake Sannin frowned as he looked over the results of his latest test. He had been trying to give the abilities of Sakon and Ukon to seventeen other shinobi, and all but one had died within a few hours of receiving it, though the latter expired after a day.

Orochimaru's gaze drifted over to the vials that held the Akatsuki samples. He had not tested them out yet - he had precious little of them, and so could not afford to squander them on people who would die anyway. But they had been trying to graft many different kekkei genkais, and the lowest death rate they could get was one out of eight, far too many for Orochimaru to risk an experiment with even one of the Akatsuki samples.

No, what he needed was the assurance that whoever he gave the samples too would not die. But who could that be?

He sighed, and returned to the other matters that needed his attention. After the mess with the Soma no Ko kekkei genkai, he had realized that he needed more test subjects, which was why he had sent Mizuki off with the scroll, which contained a request to Koharu and Homura to send him more children from the orphanages in Konoha.

Most people would be surprised to find that the two patriotic elders were working with the treacherous snake. But Komaru and Homura were only doing what was best for Konoha - or at least, they believed they were. When Sarutobi had failed to kill him, they had tried to plant their own spies into his ranks. Orochimaru had detected them easily and fooled them into thinking that he and his armies were much more powerful than they were, which was the opposite signal to what he was displaying to ordinary Konoha spies.

Koharu and Homura had panicked when they heard back from their spies, which they believed to be far more reliable than the ones Sarutobi had sent out, and it was then that Orochimaru had contacted them with an offer - he would leave Konoha alone if they would send him some of the orphans that had been crammed into the orphanages after the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. It was a deal that he never intended to honour, but the elders didn't realize that - despite their shrewdness and experiance, they still couldn't help but still see the loyal genius of Konoha rather than the cold S-rank missing-nin, if only a little bit.

So they believed him, and began to quietly send him some children every once in a while. No one noticed - it was them, after all, who dealt in missing civilians, so even if anyone had reported a few children going missing, they would have got rid of any record. Orochimaru didn't make many requests of them - he knew that asking too much would result in them going to the Hokage. The only reason why they hadn't done so already was because he had threaten to make his army march on Konoha if they did.

The trickle of subjects from Konoha were useful indeed, but not much. After all, any with kekkei genkai were normally from clans who would take them in if their parents died. Even if they weren't, Konoha liked to keep an eye on 'special' children, so the chance of snatching them without alerting Konoha would be slim to none.

Besides, it wasn't as if any kekkei genkai from Konoha would solve his Akatsuki problem. He had never heard of someone being able to withstand the sort of trauma that grafting abilities could provide...

Orochimaru froze, his eyes wide. Wait a minute. He _had_ heard of such a person.

A while ago, one of his spies, a minor medic-nin, nowhere near Kabuto's calibre, had remarked casually about how the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi had been brought into hospital after being attacked by a mob. That was not unusual for a jinchuriki, but the fact that all of his cuts and broken bones had been healed up within a day was.

The Sannin thought over this, his eyes gleaming. It seemed obvious to him where the healing came from - the Kyuubi, unwilling to be dragged off to the grave with its host. But even the Kyuubi would be unable to get rid of a bloodline once it was injected into its jinchuriki - the body had only two options: accept the bloodline and integrate it, or reject it and die. Orochimaru was sure that the Kyuubi would never go for the latter, which meant that it would have to accept the abilities.

Of course, there would be a limit. Even with the Kyuubi, there was only so much that the body could take. But even so, he was sure that he would be able to force the abilities of Akatsuk into the jinchuriki. And then...

He would at last be able to create utter perfection.

* * *

Koharu pursed her lips as she read over the letter from Orochimaru. Homura, sensing the agitation of his old teammate, glanced over at her. "What's wrong?"

She silently passed him the letter, and picked up her cup of tea as he read over it. Homura's eyebrows rose higher and higher as he read through it until they had practically disappeared into his hair. "He wants Uzumaki?"

"Yes" Koharu sighed. "And he seems quite keen to have him."

Homura frowned. "But why? He has some talent, I admit, but not much, even compared to his academy class. He's a rude, loud, obnoxious brat. and I doubt that he'll live long, even if he does make it past the academy."

Koharu's eyes flashed. "Don't be foolish. He's the jinchuriki of the most powerful bjuu! Who wouldn't want him?"

Homura shook his head. "The Kyuubi is powerful. He isn't."

Koharu took a sip of her drink before staring down at the letter. "But what if he cracks open the seal? The Kyuubi would be free, and in the hands of Orochimaru."

They both shuddered at the thought, but Homura still looked doubtful. "You saw Minato's seal. It was designed to withstand practically anything that was thrown at it. I don't think that Orochimaru could ever hope to break it, and besides, you heard Jiraiya. Apparently Minato also encrypted it so that it could only be altered with elements that Minato hid, and I'm sure that only Jiraiya knows where they are - and he certainly would never tell Orochimaru, even under torture."

That was something that they could both agree on - Jiraiya was stubbornly loyal, and he had survived several bouts of torture when he was captured during the Second Shinobi War without telling his captors a thing.

Koharu picked up the letter and read it again. "It's possible I suppose that he only wants Uzumaki to see the difference between a jinchuriki and a human. It's something that many have puzzled over before, after all."

Homura nodded. "Besides, if we lose Uzumaki, we do not lose much. He is a jinchuriki, destined from birth to be a sacrifice. This is no different. Perhaps if he was more skilled...but the child shows no talent at all. He is nothing compared to what we could lose if we did not send him to Orochimaru."

Koharu nodded, and held the letter over a candle. It was quickly consumed, and she let go of it as the remains floated down, crumbling into black ashes. "Then we are agreed."

* * *

Naruto was extremely excited. He had been told to go to the old man's office, because there was a special surprise waiting for him there. Normally, he'd be wary of surprises, but this was the old man. He would never hurt him.

As he walked towards the old man's office, he was surprised to see that there weren't any guards standing outside. Normally there were at least two of those weird guys who wore animal masks like little kids (little kids being the four year olds that played in the park with their mothers watching from nearby. Naurto was six, and that made him a big boy - at least, Kiba's mother had called him a big boy when he turned six) but today there was no one.

He opened the door, not knocking as usual. To his confusion, the old man wasn't sitting there. Instead, he saw the two old people that the old man had called his friends. To Naruto, this didn't make much sense - he didn't like those two, because they weren't nice like the old man, and he thought that nice people had nice friends - but the old man had told him to be polite to them, so he smiled hesitantly at them.

They didn't smile back. Instead, the old lady walked over to him, and looked down at him strangely. "You're Naruto, aren't you?"

Naruto nodded, wondering why she was asking that - he had heard the old man call him Naruto in front of her many times before.

The old lady's face did break into a smile at that point, but the sight of it made Naruto wish that she hadn't. It exposed her slightly browning teeth, and it made him think of the cat that pounced upon the mice that scurried around the dustbins.

"Naruto, you want to be a ninja don't you?"

Naruto's face lit up. "Yeah! I'm gonna be the best ninja ever! And then I'm gonna become Hokage!"

The old lady looked rather sour for a moment before her face returned to its smile. "I see. Now, you know that as a ninja, you would have to make sacrifices for Konoha?"

Naruto nodded carelessly. The old man had mentioned something about that, but he hadn't really paid attention.

The old lady reached down and patted his arm. "Now, are you willing to make sacrifices? A good Hokage must be able to do that, after all."

Naruto was hooked the moment she mentioned Hokage. "Yeah! Of course I am!"

"Good."

She swung her palm into the back of his head, sending him crashing to the floor. The last thing Naruto heard her say before he was lost to unconsciousness was "It's also what a jinchuriki should do as well."

* * *

Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes. _'What happened?'_

He bit back a moan at his throbbing head, and looked around. He was in a room that had no windows, and he wrinkled his nose at the putrid smell before he noticed that he was not the only person in the room - far from it. About thirty children were crammed inside, boys and girls, their ages ranging from crying toddlers to teenagers that had the muscled build of shinobi. Some were too grubby to tell their gender, some were reasonably clean, some were malnourished while others looked healthy, but there was one thing that they all had in common: they were all terrified.

Naruto looked around, and saw to his horror that there was no door, just bars stretching down from the ceiling to the floor. A memory swarmed up in his mind from when he had spray-painted the Uchiha symbol and turned the red and white into pink and green. Two Uchihas had hunted him down and dragged him to the Konoha Military Police station where they had relished showing him the cells and promising him a trip into them if he _ever _tried to deface the noble Uchiha clan's symbol again.

_'Am I in prison? I didn't do anything wrong!'_

Footsteps echoed, and Naruto looked up. A tall man was standing on the other side of the bars. He had pale skin and long black hair, but it was his eyes that Naruto noticed. They were gold, with slitted pupils, and they were fixed on the crowd of children, some of whom stared back defiantly while others cowered away.

No. Not fixed on the children.

Fixed on _him._

Icy fear bubbled in Naruto's stomach as he looked up at the man, and he suddenly knew, with a sharp, dreadful clarity, that he had not been put in a prison.

He had been sent straight to Hell.

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Perfection**

**I own neither Naruto nor the basic idea of this plot. They belong to Kishimoto and dracohalo117 respectively.**

**I think that I should warn you now, there may be OCs in this story. I will do my best not to turn them into Mary-Sues if it comes to it but I understand that some people just don't like them. If that's the case, feel free to stop reading now. I've also changed something about Hidan's immortality - in this story, the experiments his cult did on him gave him the immunity to death, but he does not need to kill to maintain it. It's just a violent way of worship.**

Naruto had always hated the dark.

It was a secret that he had always kept hidden, as according to the other kids, being afraid of the dark was for sissies. But as night fell over Konoha, he had always huddled in his bed, his terrified eyes watching the shadows and twisting them into monsters that leered at him, waiting to pounce as soon as he closed his eyes.

Now, trapped in a cell with several other unfortunates, he couldn't understand whether he still hated darkness, or if he should welcome it. For while the darkness now signified the cramped confines of his cell, something that would give him claustrophobia for the rest of his life, it also meant that he didn't have to see the misery that no one could escape from, could pretend that he was back at his apartment and the lights had just blown out as they often did.

The cell was mostly silent apart from the sobbing. Some of the other children talked to each other, but they refused to look at anyone else. Naruto noticed that those that spoke to each other were all...different. Some had weird patterns on their skin that they would sometimes clutch at and howl. Some had funny eyes or teeth or skin. Some looked human - others seemed to be nothing but monsters.

He noticed something else to - the children that vanished. Sometimes every day, sometimes spaced weeks apart, the guards would march up to the cells and begin dragging children out. They kicked, howled, sobbed, pleaded, but it made no difference. All of them were taken away, while the normal children would stare after them in horror, wondering if they'd come back.

The strange children didn't. They already knew that the taken children would be lucky if they didn't.

Naruto always pressed himself to the back of the cell whenever the guards came to take children away. He didn't want to be dragged off to wherever they were being taken, instincts honed from years of avoiding the hostility of Konoha telling him that it would not be a good place to go.

Naruto was unaware of the fact that he wasn't in any danger the first few times the guards came. Orochimaru was working with the samples, checking to make sure that everything was ready, and planning out his schedule for creating his perfect host. That took time, and so for a couple of weeks, Naruto was safe.

But then his luck ran out, and the whiskered face boy woke up in the cell to find the snake-man standing outside, pointing at him. "That one."

* * *

The first ability they gave him was Samehada's.

Well, they didn't give it to him, strictly. Orochimaru researched the Hoshigaki clan, and found that their swords were grown from the scales of previous swords, a child only being awarded one when they managed to break a scale off during a spar with an ordinary sword. The child would feed the fragment their own chakra, which would bind the sword to them and only them. The amount needed to grow the sword would kill a normal person, but the Hoshigaki clan were all born with incredibly large chakra reserves, meaning that they could survive providing the scales the chakra they needed to grow into a sword.

That worked out fine, as Naruto had a very large chakra reserve as well, one that would rival any child of the Hoshigaki clan. And as Orochimaru's chakra merged with his host's when he took over their bodies, the sword should respond to him as well as it did to Naruto.

The Hoshigaki's had always demanded that their children be awake through the procedure. Whether this was an active part of the sword-growing or just a display of toughness Orochimaru didn't know, but he wasn't going to risk it. And so Naruto was strapped onto a chair with his palm forced to face upwards as the shard from Samehada was stabbed into it.

The pain was terrible. Not from the stabbing - that was merely a sharp flash that was over quickly - but from the slow, aching feeling of having his chakra sucked out of him. The six year old slumped over when the procedure was done, but just before he passed out, he saw what looked like a small dagger made out of purple scales, and heard Orochimaru say smugly,

"Experiment a success."

* * *

The group of children in the cell slowly thinned. Naruto counted them, using his fingers like the academy had taught them. There were eleven of them now, and it had gone very quiet. The kids that had come in with him had stopped talking a while ago, and the older ones had never spoken a word to him. They didn't see any point - to them, everyone was going to die anyway, so it was not much use making friends.

Naruto didn't like the quietness. He was a loud child by nature, and he disliked not being able to talk because no one else wanted to. He was also homesick, but also worried. Where was the old man, and the other ninja that were supposed to protect him? Why had no one come?

* * *

The Sandaime stared down at the paperwork in front of him, seemingly reading it with great attention. In reality, his mind was far away, fixed on a certain blonde jinchuriki that had vanished from Konoha several months ago.

He had not realized that Naruto was missing for a while, something that he bitterly regretted. His visits to the boy had slowly been cut down to once a month by the sheer amount of work the elderly kage had to go through, and this month had been particularly hectic. By the time he had been able to go out to visit Naruto, only to discover the boy missing, the trail had long since gone cold.

That hadn't stopped him trying though. Naruto was more than the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi; he was the son of one of his dearest friends, and the boy that Sandaime viewed as his own grandchild. He had mustered the finest of the Inuzuka to track him down, but they returned empty-handed, saying that the trail was too old for them to follow. The Sandaime suspected that they had not tried as hard as they should have, being eager to get rid of 'the demon brat', but he had no way to prove it, and so dismissed them. But now all that he could do was hope that Naruto would one day return to them.

Sighing, Sarutobi looked up at the portraits of the kages on the wall, his gaze landing on the blue-eyed visage of the Yondaime. _'Minato...We have truely failed you.'_

* * *

Orochimaru smirked as he examined the weapon that the scales had grown into. It was nowhere near the length of Samehada, which was to be expected, considering it was nowhere near the sword in terms of age and how much chakra it had consumed. Right now, it was the size of an ordinary kunai, albeit one covered in scales that shot up whenever someone brought their hand near.

The colour of the blade had changed as well. The blue scales had mutated into a dark indigo, and Orochimaru wasn't sure if it was a normal result of a new sword being created, or whether Naruto's chakra, tainted by the Kyuubi, produced a unique reaction.

Either way, he was happy. The sword was not as good as his Kusanagi, of course, but it was worthy of his new form, and he looked forward to testing it against its parent when he struck Akatsuki down.

But now was not the time to think of such things. He had some new test subjects coming in, some with very intriguing abilities, and he also wished to begin a new experiment with Naruto. It was time to see how he responded to that peculiar power of Hidan's.

* * *

Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes. He was lying on a table, his arms and legs bound by straps. He pulled at them, and winced as they chafed against his skin.

"Be careful there. Those straps are tight."

Naruto blearily looked up at the person standing next to the table. It was a teenager, with silver hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a pair of circular glasses sitting on the edge of his nose. He was staring down at Naruto as if he was looking at a bug under a microscope, and it made the younger boy uncomfortable. "Who are you?"

The teen smiled. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto, and I'm Orochimaru-sama's personal medic. I was sent to check that you were okay."

Naruto looked up at him. "_Am_ I okay?"

Kabuto smiled. "I think so." Then he whipped out a small kunai, and before Naruto could blink, stuck it into his chest.

Naruto yelped in shock and pain. It wasn't as bad as he expected but it still hurt like hell!

Kabuto pulled out the knife and inspected the wound before nodding happily. "Orochimaru-sama will be pleased."

The pain was fading already, but Naruto was too angry to care. "Why'd you do that?"

Kabuto smiled at him. "Oh, didn't Orochimaru tell you. That operation earlier was designed to give you at least partial immortality, so that things like stabbing you would not harm you. Seeing as you're not dead, the experiment seems to have been a success, but I had to make sure."

Naruto glared at him, but Kabuto didn't seem to care. "Now come with me, Naruto-kun. Orochimaru has decided to move you to where we keep the successful experiments now."

Naruto lay still as he unfastened the straps, debating whether to make a break for it. But then he looked up and saw a strange glint in Kabuto's eye that made him decide against it. Something told him that the teen was more dangerous than he let on.

As he walked after Kabuto, Naruto noticed that there was a large mirror on the wall. Out of curiousity - it had been a long time since he had seen his reflection - he stopped to look into it.

His eyes widened in shock.

He was thinner than he used to be, no doubt thanks to the scarce amount of food that prisoners received. His teeth, while all there and intact, were beginning to yellow, and he resolved to find some toothpaste as soon as possible. His clothes were faded and ragged, and he would probably be utterly filthy if they did not insist that everyone showered before experimentation. But it was his hair that surprised him.

It had grown longer than he remembered, the spikes sticking up in all directions while the front strands now touched his shoulders. However, what held his attention was the colour. His hair now had a silvery cast to it, something that he definitely would have noticed before - after all, he had often proudly noted that his hair was the brightest in his class, beating out Ino's by far.

Kabuto, having noticed that he was not following him, looked over to see what Naruto was looking at. He understood immediately. "Apparently, all members of the religion that the guy who your immortality comes from belonged to have silver hair. You probably got a diluted version of it because you're not an actual member. Now, come on."

Naruto followed Kabuto, but his thoughts remained with his reflection as he wondered just how much this place was going to change him.

* * *

The place where successful experiments were kept were a small improvement on the place where Naruto had stayed before. He was still in a cell, but on his own this time, and they had access to better food as well as a shower once a week.

Still didn't change the fact that he was being locked up, or the fact that he didn't know why. He had asked the guards, but they had just angrily retorted about how he should be grateful that he was 'helping Orochimaru-sama in his great work!'

There was also another aspect that Naruto didn't like - having to fight.

The successful experiments were probably going to be included in Orochimaru's army, and so he wanted them trained and ready to fight. He also wanted to see how well the changes he had implemented in them worked, as he did not call an experiment a total success until he was sure that their new abilities could work in a combat setting or some other way to benefit him. Naruto had been lumped in with them so that he could build up some skill - Orochimaru had no intention of possessing a body that he would then have to spend ages getting into shape.

So Naruto was given training by both Kabuto and a handful of others under Orochimaru's command. At the moment, they were only working with taijutsu, and Naruto was taught the basics of the Hebi style, which, though it was very different to what he'd been shown in the academy, was also easier to learn, as he didn't have teachers trying to sabotage him, or only teaching him the barest minumum that they had to.

He had also been introduced to kenjutsu, but he wasn't very good at it so far, getting beaten into a pulp every time by the strange boy with the red markings under his eyes. Apparently, the news of his 'immortality' had spread, as his trainers seemed to have no problem with stabbing and slicing him to pieces, something literally.

They had also begun to research the religion that Kabuto had spoken of, Jashinism. Naruto had felt sick as he read of ceremonies involving hundreds of human sacrifices, books that ranted about how not killing your opponents was the ultimate dishonour, and the rituals where Jashinists mutilated themselves in order to bring their victims the maximum amount of agony before they died.

The more he read, the more his disgust grew. There was no way he was EVER going to use that sort of stuff. It looked horrible, and what sort of Hokage would he be if he went round cutting people up?

* * *

A few weeks later, Kabuto informed him that he was to undergo another transfusion. Naruto had not protested, as he had a feeling that it wouldn't be much good. But they had still drugged his food, and Naruto had been out like a light the moment he had finished the soup that he had been given.

When he woke up, at first he couldn't see anything different. His eyes, his hair, his teeth, all were still the same. But then his shirt slipped, and he saw the neat stitches of black thread that ran diagonally from the top of his shoulders to the beginning of his armpits.

And he screamed.

Kabuto had come to investigate what was wrong, fearing that the experiment had not gone as well as they'd thought. Naruto had demanded an explanation in a fearful voice, and it was given brutally - that it was part of the experiment, and these strange black threads had been woven through his body. He did not go into much detail about what they would be used for, but Naruto did not like what he did say about them, especially when he mentioned human hearts.

After the teen had gone, Naruto slumped to the floor, stroking the stitches as he stared at them in bewilderment and fear. Words came floating back to him from his days in Konoha, whispered by strangers, muttered by his teachers, and shouted at by his peers.

_'Freak!'_

_'Monster!'_

_'Demon!'_

The old man had always told him to ignore them, promising Naruto that of course he was no different than them. But now...

Could he really say that he was like _anyone_ anymore?

* * *

Orochimaru frowned as he read over the reports given to him by Kabuto. They had just started to get Naruto to manipulate the threads, but it was slow work. He had managed to extend his arms, but at the sight of the threads coming out of his body he had stopped immediately and retracted them. "Naruto-kun's training is going slowly."

Kabuto nodded. "He does show a certain...dislike of the changes we've put on him so far, and they aren't even that bad compared to the others we intend to do. But his taijutsu is coming along nicely, and he is beginning to pick up kenjutsu. I recommend that we start his training on chakra control soon, or he'll never be able to perform jutsus as efficiently as he should do."

Orochimaru waved his hand. "I cannot spare you for his training much longer. You have other work to do."

Kabuto frowned, but nodded. "Very well. What of his training now?"

Orochimaru rested his head on his knuckles. "I won't accept my vessel being trained by substandard teachers. Summon Guren."

Kabuto blinked in shock. "Her? Orochimaru-sama are you sure?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Yesss. She'll provide the training he needs, and could well bring him round to my view - when I take his body, it'll be much easier if it is offered willingly."

Kabuto nodded slowly, though it was obvious that he was not happy about this. "Very well."

Orochimaru watched him leave the room, before deciding to send someone to Kiri. There had been rumours of Akatsuki travelling to there, and it appeared that they had a new member, someone who apparently had mouths in his hands...

**Coming up next: Naruto meets Guren, learns some unpleasant truths about Konoha, and Orochimaru decides to transplant a new ability. So, like this chapter? Hate it? Think there are ways to improve it? Please review and tell me!**


	3. Chapter 3

****

Perfection

**I own neither Naruto nor the basic idea of this plot. They belong to Kishimoto and dracohalo117 respectively.**

Guren smiled as she leaned over the edge of the balcony, savouring the chaos that was rampaging below her. She was in the buildings that housed some Orochimaru's first 'successful' experiments, that is, those who survived being branded with some of the first different cursed seals. But few other scientists would dub these creatures as a success.

The once human figures had been warped into grotesque mockeries of their former selves, the price from drawing on the curse mark too much. Now unable to do anything but listen to their own bloodlust, they were confined in a remote area, and studied by a few of Orochimaru's researchers, mainly by observing them fight. However, the crazed experiments hardly ever fought without killing their opponent, and their number was slowly being whittled down.

None of that concerned Guren. She had been ordered to keep an eye on them by Orochimaru, and she had obeyed. But she only had to stay here until they were all gone, and from the looks of things, that wouldn't take too long. Soon, she would be back at Orochimaru's main base, serving him as was her only wish.

"Guren-sama?"

The sixteen-year-old turned around to see one of the scientists bowing to her, his hands shaking from nerves. "Kabuto-sama has sent a letter ."

Guren frowned. She did not like Kabuto, not at all. He was too quiet, too plotting, too nice-guy-while-secretly-being evil, and he was loyal to himself, not to Orochimaru. If someone cut him a better deal, he would betray the Snake Sannin in an instant. Guren was also, if she was honest with herself, more than a little jealous of him. Kabuto was Orochimaru's right-hand man, his personal medic, and the one he trusted above all others, including her, a fact that never failed to fill the crystal-user with bitterness. Still, Kabuto had to be obeyed - for now.

"Well? Give it to me!"

The scientist nodded, and quickly handed over the letter before scurrying away. Guren carelessly began scanning it. As she reached the third line, her eyes bulged, and by the time she had finished the letter, she was teetering on the edge of collapsing from shock.

"He wants me to do WHAT?"

* * *

Naruto sat on the bed in his cell, staring dully at his arms. He had been sent some new clothing, probably after they realized that his old ones were now little more than scraps of cloth linked by frayed threads. If it had been in any other place, he would have been excited to receive clothes like these - some mesh tops, black pants like he had seen some of the ninja around his village wear, fingerless gloves, a full body suit, even a grey flak jacket, though it was a bit big for him. But in this gloomy place, he found it hard to conjure up any excitement at all.

He had put on one of the mesh top and black pants, not wanting to have to wear the smelly rags he had been for the last few weeks. But as soon as Naruto slipped on the top, he had realized his mistake - the large rags had at least covered the stitches, something which the mesh top didn't. Now there was nothing to hide the tiny black threads woven through his skin, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from them, no matter how much fear and disgust ran through him as he looked at them.

Naruto lifted his hand, and gently touched the stitches that ran down his right shoulder. They seemed to be pulled tight, but he concentrated, and his arm fell to the floor, connected to his shoulder by a thick snake of black threads. A bitter smile pulled at Naruto's lips, and the threads began to move, rising and bending like a real arm, though it was doubtful that any human limb could twist into some the positions he made the threads do.

Naruto didn't like what had been done to him, in fact he hated it. But in the darkness of his cell, with no company but his own, he had turned to using the threads as entertainment, a way to stave off the loneliness, the fear, and also, the frustration.

During his first week in wherever the hell this was, Naruto had not expected to stay long. He had been sure that the old man would come looking for him, and if not him, then at least some of the ninjas who had been kind to him before he came here. But as the days dragged by, a sense of hopelessness had crept up at him as he had looked around to see no sign of anyone coming to rescue him. Where were they? Why hadn't they come?

* * *

Danzo stared down at the reports sent back to him by one of his agents, a smirk on his lips. "So, it's true? Orochimaru has him?"

The ROOT agent in front of his desk nodded. "Hai, Danzo-sama. We managed to sneak in a few agents into his organization. They weren't able to discover much, as much is hidden with Orochimaru, but they were able to find out that he has the jinchuriki, and seems to be performing a variety of experiments on him, though they are not sure of the nature of those experiments."

Danzo leaned back in his chair. "I see."

This was intruging news. As soon as Uzumaki had disappeared, he had sent out agents from ROOT to find him, and if necessary, eliminate him. After all, they couldn't have the most powerful of the bjuu in the hands of another village. But Orochimaru...That was another matter. Danzo had made deals with the Sannin before, and they had proved to be very profitable. Perhaps a similar deal could be made for Uzumaki?

And if not...Danzo's lips curled back into a grin. Well, he'd be a very poor character to leave a child in the hands of a monster like Orochimaru, wouldn't he?

* * *

It was a few weeks after Naruto had been given the black threads, and he was standing in the middle of his cell, a single black thread darting around the cramped space. He watched it with almost a flicker of pride, for he was beginning to advance quite well with manipulating the threads outside his body. He couldn't move many threads at the speed that he could move on, but if they didn't disturb him for a while, he should be able to get better with the technique.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps, and quickly withdrew the thread back into his body, sinking down onto his bed. Someone was coming, and he didn't want to be caught using the threads. It was bad enough having to push them out in front of Kabuto and some of the other scientists as they gawked at him, and he knew that if they found him playing around with them, he'd be hauled off so that they could observe him again, and he got enough of that already.

It didn't take long for the owner of the footsteps, Kabuto, to appear. "Naruto, come. There is someone Orochimaru-sama desires you to meet."

Naruto nodded wearily, rising to his feet. Kabuto unlocked the door of the cell and led him out, the small boy following him through the dark corridors until they came to one of the labs. Naruto looked at the silver-haired boy questioningly.

"Orochimaru-sama wishes to implant a new ability within you before you meet this person."

Naruto stiffened in fear, but before he could move, Kabuto's hand darted towards him, a needle gleaming between his fingers. Naruto felt a sharp prick, but before he could register anything else, he blacked out.

* * *

Guren knelt in front of her master, looking up at him in adoration and a hint of confusion. "You...said you wanted me to train someone?"

Orochimaru chuckled silkily, looking down at his subordinate with amusement. "Yes. I have decided to take on a new body, one that will elevate me above all - but currently, it is a child, weak and clumsy. I need you to shape him into a true shinobi, for when I take his form in three years."

Trying to hide her disappointment at not being the one chosen for the jutsu, Guren nodded. "Hai, Orocohimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smiled, his teeth glinting in the candlelight. "Good."

* * *

Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes. Everything looked a bit fuzzy, and his head was hurting...

Gingerly, he reached up and felt through the silvery-blonde spikes. Despite the pain, there seemed to be no damage, not even a lump, which Naruto felt thankful for, though he was still annoyed at Kabuto for knocking him out, while also nervous about what change had been wrought in him this time.

There were no straps holding him down to the table, so he cautiously got up and staggered over to the mirror, feeling a little weak after the anesthetic that had been pumped into him for the operation. Leaning forward, he examined his appearance, and frowned.

His hair was the same. His eyes seemed to be the same. His nose, his teeth, his hands, his feet, all didn't show any signs of change. But they had definitely done something to him. What was it?

The door to the lab opened, and Kabuto came in. "Ah, you're awake, Naruto."

The younger boy stared up at him, his eyes narrowed. Kabuto chuckled at his expression. "Oh, don't look so glum, Naruto. You surely didn't want to be awake for the procedure, even if Orochimaru-sama regards it as one of the most valuable."

Naruto tried to speak, but his voice came out as a croak, reminding him that he hadn't had a drink for a while. "What...What did you do to me?"

Kabuto merely smiled, and gestured for him to follow. "You'll find out soon enough. Now, come on. We need to get going."

Now feeling quite nervous, Naruto followed him, but he was determined to get answers...just preferably not from this creepy guy.

They stepped out of the lab, and into a corridor that was bathed in a flickering orange light from the torches fixed to the stone walls. It looked like a scene from the stories that the old man had told him about, the ones where the villians had trapped the heroes in their dungeons - which was kind of appropriate, now that Naruto thought about it. Kabuto gestured for him to go down another corridor, but before Naruto could take a step, the sounds of footsteps approached, along with sniffles and shouts of anger.

Naruto looked up, and gasped. Five Oto shinobi were leading a mass of children towards them, about twenty if his ability to count hadn't deserted him since he'd arrived here. Their ages ranged from the battle-scarred teenager wearing a headband with the symbol of Iwa who looked about fifteen to the little girl about two younger than Naruto with curly blonde hair and a neat blue dress that made her look like a small doll in his opinion. All looked very frightened, and Naruto let his gaze wander so that he didn't have to focus too much on their terror, which was completely justified. But he froze as he spotted a familiar face. "Ami?"

The purple haired girl looked up at the sound of her name, and her eyes narrowed in confusion when she saw the boy who had called it, clearly not recognizing him. But before she could say a word, one of the guards whacked her head and ordered her to follow the other children down another corridor. Kabuto looked down at Naruto, his eyes glinting behind his glasses. "You know her?"

Naruto frowned. He knew Ami from his days in the playground, where she and her friends had pushed him off the swing several times. "A little. But what's she doing here?" He knew that Ami was an orphan, like him, but unlike him, she was well-looked after, and he couldn't imagine what she'd be doing in this place.

Kabuto shrugged, a sly smile on his face. "We get children sent to us from every village, Naruto. They don't want to make Orochimaru-sama angry after all. Even Konoha does it - that's why we have you."

Naruto stiffened. "What?"

"It's simple. You have a special...gift that allows you to survive the transfusions we give you when many others would not. When Orochimaru-sama heard about you, he asked Konoha for you. From what I hear, they were quite happy to get rid of you."

Naruto stared at the older boy in shock, his hands clenched. Surely...Surely they wouldn't have just tossed him aside? Surely the old man wouldn't give him to these people?

But the woman who had knocked him out had been the old man's friend. And he knew that no one apart from the old man had liked him...had _seemed _to like him. What if he had just been pretending, like the old lady that had given him some dango that turned out to be filled with glass?

_"Jiji..."_

Kabuto smirked as he saw the boy's eyes fill with tears. Orochimaru may not be able to take on the boy's body until three years had passed, but that didn't mean that he didn't have other uses for Naruto, and the less ties he had to anywhere apart from Oto, the better.

* * *

Orochimaru smirked as he gazed down at the puppet of the Sandaime Kazekage. It had been difficult extracting the genetic material needed, as Sasori had stuffed the doll full of weapons, all of which were poisoned. He couldn't have any samples tainted after all. But there was a few patches where the puppet master had not touched, and Orochimaru found what was needed in there.

A good thing too, as he would have been very peeved if he was not able to take the kekkei genkai that he had once feared. The Kazekage's abilities were worth preserving, but it irked him to think that Sasori had carelessly turned this man into a weapon without taking precautions. Orochimaru liked having back-ups of the kekkei genkai that Sound had amassed - one of the reasons he tried so many transplants.

However, that was not the only thing he had learned from the man's body. Orochimaru was a scientist after all, and a power-hungry one at that. He had carefully examined the corpse, slowly piercing together the puzzle of human puppets, bit by bit. Such a useful craft after all - normally, if bloodline carriers refused to join him, he would destroy them and take genetic samples, hoping to replicate their abilities within loyal followers. But with the skill of making human puppets at his disposal, he could make further uses of their bodies. He liked the thought of using dead foes against his opponents, and made a mental note to have a look at the Sarutobi cemetary - wouldn't it pain his old teacher to have to fight his darling wife, the only person he had cherished above his favoured student?

And even then, he could take Sasori's idea further, He had had a good look at his partner during his time with Akatsuki, and along with his wooden scent, Orochimaru was sure that he had glimpsed metal joints and skin that gleamed unnaturally beneath the man's cloak. However, he was pretty sure that the person he had fought beside wasn't just another puppet - no one could be out of the range of his chakra-sensing abilites and control someone of Sasori's abilities at the same time. Which meant that Sasori had somehow turned himself into a puppet - and stayed alive, creating his own version of immortality.

Orochimaru had no interest in something like that for himself - he already had a form of immortality with his body-stealing jutsu, something that would no longer be needed with Naruto's body. However, he had several people that he found useful that he wouldn't mind keeping around. Kimmimaro for one - the boy was beginning to show signs of an illness that Kabuto couldn't seem to cure. But a puppet could not get sick, and he was sure that the Kaguya would not mind being transformed into one, if Orochimaru requested/demanded.

* * *

Jiraiya stared down at the paper clutched between his fingers, his eyes scanning the hastily written words. When he had heard that Orochimaru was constructing a hidden village with himself as the head, the Toad Sannin had wasted no time in planting spies within his ranks, selecting only the best for the job. The laboratories in Konoha had proved to him what a monster his teammate had become, and he knew that any spy detected would probably end up on his operating table.

But Jiraiya couldn't afford to let that hold him back. He knew that Orochimaru held a grudge against Konoha, and he was probably plotting its downfall the moment he stepped out of it. And if that was the case, then Jiraiya had to know, so that he could warn the village he loved that it was in danger.

His spies had picked up whispers of plans to crush Konoha, but from what they could discern, Orochimaru had no concrete plans yet for destroying the village. No, it was not for that that one of his spies had risked her life by sending him an unscheduled report.

It was Naruto.

Jiraiya's fist clenched. A few months back, he had received news from the Sandaime that his godson had gone missing, vanished without a trace. Jiraiya had tried to reassure himself that it was not the first time that the child had gone missing - from what he had heard, Naruto had various hiding-places around Konoha, that he would sometimes hole himself up in when the disdain of the village got too much. As the days turned into months, a voice had whispered in his head that surely the child wouldn't have stayed away for this long, that something must have happened to him. But Jiraiya had ignored it, and continued with his life.

But this letter had changed everything. His spy reported that she had seen a child being taken into Oto, a child with whisker marks on his face and spiky blonde hair. She had not reported it at the time - after all, unusual children being delivered to Orochimaru was nothing new. But later, she had seen the child again - only this time, his hair had been threaded with silver, and there had been black stitches decorating his shoulder. And from what she had been able to find out, Orochimaru was planning something for the child. Something big.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. He could still remember the day Minato had asked him to be the godfather of his unborn child, one arm slung around Kushina's shoulders as they both gazed at him pleadingly. Jiraiya had been shocked, but flattered, and agreed. But he'd imagined himself as an uncle, dropping in on the child from time to time when he visited Kushina and Minato. Never had he imagined that his student would be snatched away in the ultimate sacrifice for his village.

Jiraiya had been the one to cut the cord, to carry the still bleeding infant to Minato while the Kyuubi raged outside the village. When it was over, he had been the one who had taken Naruto back to Kushina, and watched helplessly as the hardened jounin from Whirlpool had fallen to the floor and sobbed as if she couldn't stop.

He had left the village, telling himself that Naruto didn't need him, that he had his mother. However, though Kushina had her son, she'd been forced to move out of the Namikaze mansion - she and Minato hadn't gotten around to getting married, and so she had no legal claim to his property. And by Konoha's law, Naruto could only claim his inheritance when he turned eighteen, and even that was only if no legitimate heirs came out of the woodwork.

As Minato had been the last of his family, Jiraiya knew that it was unlikely any other Namikazes would be turning up, but it was still a bitter blow for Kushina, who was already ostraized for being the mother of the 'demon brat.' But she loved her son, and did her best to make things work. She'd bought an apartment, and started taking on more dangerous missions, figuring that the added risk was worth it, as the extra pay meant that she didn't have to go on so many, and could spend more time with her baby.

But then, she had mysteriously vanished while on a routine document-carrying mission. No one knew if she had been ambushed or had left voluntarily, but either way, it was an extremely serious situation. Minato had been teaching Kushina the Hirashin before he died along with the rasengan, and she'd also worked with Minato on the Shiki Fūjin, being an amateur seal-user. While she hadn't had the time to continue working on them herself, any of those three would be very useful to a village, and he knew that Kushina would be welcomed with open arms anywhere if she came offering them.

After three months of searching turned up nothing, she was declared dead, leaving Naruto alone in the world. The Sandaime had sent Jiraiya a message, offering him Naruto's guardianship, but the Toad Sannin had still been hurting over the loss of his student, and felt that he couldn't face seeing a carbon copy of him. Instead, he'd continued with his travels, trusting that Sarutobi could keep the boy safe.

Only he hadn't been able to. Naruto was in the clutches of Orochimaru, undergoing what sounded like gruesome experiments for an unknown purpose that Jiraiya would have staked his life for not being good for anyone, Naruto included. Jiraiya could no longer brush Naruto off as safer without him - he knew for a fact that Orochimaru would show no mercy, despite the fact that Naruto was no more than six years old.

Sighing, Jiraiya tore the letter into tiny pieces, which he let flutter away into his campfire. Otogakure was going to be a hard nut to crack, especially as he was Orochimaru's famous ex-teammate. But he had to do it.

It was time he started being a proper godfather.

* * *

Naruto stared up at the woman - girl, really - who was looking down at him with narrowed eyes. "So. This is the brat that's going to be the next host?"

Kabuto, who was standing behind him, nodded. "Yes. Don't be fooled by his appearance - he's had abilities added, and he'll be getting more."

Naruto stiffened at these words, but the girl nodded. "Of course. Orochimaru-sama would never take a weak host." There was an odd note in her voice as she said that sentence, but Naruto was too busy wondering what she meant by 'host' to pay attention.

"Then I'll leave you with him. Oh, and remember, he may be immortal, but you still can't damage him too much."

A gleam appeared in the girl's eye, and Naruto caught a flicker of movement by his feet. He jumped into the air, but one of the crystal needles that had shot up still managed to pierce his leg, jutting through his thigh. Hissing in pain, he grasped one of the other needles that were sticking out of the ground, and pushed down, giving him the momentum he needed to lift his leg off.

The blue-haired girl smirked. "Don't damage him_ too_ much. I get it."

"Then I'll leave you to it."

* * *

Sasori's eyes flickered over the reports that his spy had given to him, his fingers clenched. Orochimaru had been performing experiments on his puppet. His _favourite_puppet. Capturing the Sandaime Kazekage had injured him badly, and had been the deciding factor in his decision to convert himself into a true human puppet. And now it was lying on an operating table, years of work being undone by that snake.

He wasn't going to try attacking Orochimaru directly. No, that would be foolish. What he intended to do was to gain revenge using cunning and skill.

"Sasori-danna!"

The former of which his partner didn't seem to have.

The puppet-master resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Deidara sat down next to him, rubbing his cheek, where Sasori could see a cut, still dripping blood. Apparently someone had shot a shruiken attached to a wire up at him while he was flying on one of his clay birds, but the bomber had managed to dodge before it could do any serious damage. The opponent was gone by the time Deidara had flown down, and Sasori suspected that it had probably been some wet-behind-the-ears ninja that had panicked when they spotted the white object zooming through the air. It hadn't been the first time Deidara had been attacked while flying low, and he doubted that it would be the last.

* * *

Arashi bowed before his master, holding out a vial within which a red liquid was contained. "As you ordered, Orochimaru-sama."

The Snake Sannin leaned forward, taking the vial gently. "Are you sure that this is the right one?"

The Fuma nodded quickly. "Of course, Orochimaru-sama. My shruiken doesn't miss. The blood is his."

Orochimaru chuckled menacingly. "Good. Now I have all the ingredients I need...and my new body can finally be perfected."

* * *

Naruto panted as he ducked behind a tree, his eyes darting around wildly. When Kabuto had told him that he was going to be trained, he had been very excited. After all, being a ninja was the one thing that he had had to look forward to in Konoha, and it seemed one of the few things that this place could do to make him happy.

He should have known that that would have been too much to ask.

It had been five months since he had been started on this hellish regime, and in that time he had grown to hate his chakra with every ounce of his soul. According to Kabuto, he had too much of it, and so he was put through a strict training to control it.

Tree climbing using only his feet while Guren grew sharp crystals right below him. Walking on water while some of Orochimaru's aquatic experiments swam below the surface, waiting for him to slip in. Trying to keep hundreds of leaves clinging to his body as he balanced on a teetering pile of rocks. There seemed to be no end to his torment, and it was all because of his stupid chakra!

They had not taught him any jutsus, as Orochimaru knew practically all of his subordinates' jutsus, and he saw no need to give Naruto any. However, someone had left a load of medical manuals in his cell, and having nothing better to do, Naruto had read them. It was very difficult, as he was very much out of practice when it came to his literary skills, but someone had helpfully written definitions in the margins for the complicated words...(i.e: all of them.)

The manuals were filled with diagrams about the different parts of the body, with detailed descriptions about what they did. On the days when no one was free to train/torture him, Naruto spent hours lazily scanning the pages in an effort to starve off his boredom, as well as the memories of the kind old man whom he'd thought of as a grandfather.

Who'd betrayed him.

Soon, he had a basic grasp of human anatomy, and even started forcing the black threads to extend so that he could study them properly. Though it made him feel a bit ill to see the wire-like material twisting through his flesh, he had to admit, they did look interesting from a medical standpoint.

Just not from the standpoint of a six (well, seven now) year old boy.

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts as he caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye. Yelping, he ducked, and the crystal projectile embedded itself into the trunk of the tree he had been hiding behind.

"You'll have to do better than that, you little brat! Orochimaru-sama can't have a weak host!"

Naruto gritted his teeth as he looked up to see Guren leaning over him. In the past few months, he had learned two key facts about the woman: she was devoted to Orochimaru, and she had a sadistic streak that ran deep. Neither of which was good for his training.

He tried to get to his feet, but Guren slashed down with a crystal blade, which embedded itself within his neck. Naruto let out a yell of pain, and Guren snorted. "Why Orochimaru-sama picked you to be his vessel, I'll never know."

Naruto glared up at her. "I don't know either! Why don't you ask him?"

Guren gripped her blade, her eyes flashing. "I would never presume to question Orochimaru-sama's decision! I merely think that you must have a hidden talent, because from what I can see, you're far too weak to host him?"

Naruto frowned. He had been hearing words like 'vessel' and 'host' for a while now, but he had never been able to ask about them. "Whaddya even mean by that?"

Guren cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Naruto waved his hand. "You know, host."

Guren stared at him, shocked. "You don't know?"

Naruto was beginning to get irritated. "Know what?"

Guren opened her mouth, but then closed it, before motioning for Naruto to sit down. Puzzled, but relieved by the fact that it didn't seem like she was going to attack him again, he obeyed.

"This is going to take some time, but don't interrupt! Perhaps after I tell you you'll see what an honor you've been granted!"

Naruto nodded, and Guren smirked. "Good boy. Now, it all began when Orochimaru-sama managed to invent this new jutsu..."

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

****

Perfection

**I don't own Naruto.**

Naruto stared down at his hands in shock. They were a bit bigger than they had been in Konoha, and the nails were jagged, from where he had bitten them off to prevent them from growing too long. But they were his hands. Part of his body.

The body that Orochimaru wanted to take.

Naruto pictured the snake-faced man with a shudder, remembering his unnaturally pale skin and the golden eyes that shone with greed. According to Guren, he previously had taken the body of a woman, the wife of a daimyo that had been held for ransom. But Orochimaru's form was clearly that of a man's. He had sucked up any trace of the original body and molded it into his own. Naruto imagined it happening to him, his golden hair turning black and his skin whitening while his eyes transformed into a dark yellow, his soul being locked away as Orochimaru took over his body.

Naruto's eyes hardened. He had possessed little in Konoha, and in Otogakure, everything he had was only lent so that he could get strong enough for Orochimaru's liking. His body was the only thing that he could truly call his own.

No way was that snake ever getting his greasy hands on it!

Rolling over, he got off his bed and walked over to the bars of his cell. As usual, there was only the flickering torchlight to see by, but it was enough for Naruto to see the twisting corridor, just one of many that made up the maze of Otogakure. With guards patrolling every corner, Guren or Kabuto accompanying him whenever he left the cell, and Orochimaru overseeing everything with undoubtedly great power at his disposal, it would be very difficult to escape.

Very difficult but not impossible.

* * *

Naruto watched the girls and boys file into the training room with Kabuto leading them, his eyes narrowed. He had been given a single kunai, while they all wielded bigger or faster weapons, some clumsily, some skillfully. Soon, they would all be matched up in pairs, and expected to fight each other, usually to the death. Some were looking nervous, while others were looking excited. Naruto eyed the arrogant ones with disdain. They thought that they had been made invincible with Orochimaru's meddling.

He wanted to show them that they were wrong.

Kabuto began to direct the children into pairs. Naruto was forced to wait until last, and he gasped when he saw his opponent.

Ami's hair had been cropped short, the purple lock that had once framed her face now cut raggedly, hanging above her eyebrow. Her striped pink dress was now a pale grey, the result of living in a filthy cell for months. But that was not what drew his attention. It was the three tomoe on her neck, that were positioned just above a twin pair of scars.

Kabuto gave the signal to begin, and Naruto extended his arm, preparing to send forward the black threads and use them to deliver a blow to her head that would hopefully knock her out. But before he could do that, the girl began to change.

The black marks spiralled outwards, sending a wave of inky darkness over her skin that covered her from head to toe. Her eyes rolled back, and turned a dark orange, while her teeth turned transparent. But the worse change was the fire that erupted from her head and hands, cloaking her hair and palms in a shimmer of red and black. Naruto could feel the heat from where he was standing, and he gulped. It looked like this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

Ami turned to look at him, and grinned nastily, exposing her glass-like teeth.

**_"I'm gonna BURN you to a CRISP!"_**

Naruto crouched down and shot his arm towards the transformed girl, his bicep only attached to his shoulder by the black threads. But Ami only smirked, and sliced downwards. Naruto howled with pain as the threads were burned away, the flames eating hungrily at them like sharks devouring eels.

Across the room, Kabuto watched them curiously.

_"Naruto has received more instruction than Ami, but she has the curse seal, and she's been taught to use it more than he has been taught to use his abilities...this should be interesting."_

Naruto forced more black threads out, and made them connect to the charred remains, interlocking and strengthening them before he withdraw the reattached limb back to his body. Ami grinned, the madness caused by the seal dancing in her eyes. **_"Is that the best you can do, loser?"_**

Naruto glared at her. "I'm just getting started!" With that, he sprang at her, his kunai raised.

In retrospect, that probably was not the best plan. Ami sliced at him, and he was forced to constantly duck and dive, looking for an opening to use the kunai. His threads were no use in this situation, and he didn't like the thought of being burned to cinders.

Ami had no such qualms, and seemed to be mindlessly chopping at him with her hands, teeth bared in a feral grin. Naruto saw an opening and dived for it, his kunai raised to plunge into her knee-

Only to scream as her burning fist impacted with his chest, melting into a few centimeters away from his heart.

Naruto tried to bite back his scream, but he was only partially successful. His vision was blurring, and all the sounds in the room seemed to have been muted, as if someone had pressed their hands against his ears. Pain was all that he could seem to feel, waves of agony pounding against his body.

He was dimly aware of someone kneeling down next to him, but he paid them no heed. His vision was darkening, and he hoped that he was slipping into unconsciousness, because it would be so much better than this...

Then his eyes snapped open, and he gazed around in wonder.

His vision seemed to have cleared a little, like he had taken off a dirty pair of glasses. Ami was still swinging at him, but her movements seemed to have slowed down, which was odd, as he was pretty sure that the cursed girl would not have let up on her attacks.

The pain was still there, but it seemed to be fading, and Naruto was able to ignore it as he sat up; unaware of the fact that the wound was slowly healing, the flesh being knitted together by black threads while charred skin was being replaced with fresh unmarred skin at an incredible rate. However, to Kabuto, this was not what he found most interesting. It was the fact that Naruto's cerulean blue eyes had turned scarlet, with a single tomoe visible in either one.

_"He's done it! He awakened the sharingan! But it seems to be the normal sharingan, not Itachi's...Oh dear. Orochimaru-sama will not be pleased."_

Heedless of the thoughts running through the head of Orochimaru's right-hand man, Naruto staggered up, glaring at Ami. She was too far gone in the lust of the curse seal to notice, and just flexed her fingers, taunting him.

Naruto was all too happy to take up her challenge.

Gripping his kunai, he lunged forward, his eyes drinking in every movement of the battle. Ami tried to dodge, but she was already tiring from using her curse seal, and Naruto was not prepared to lose.

The kunai sank into Ami's shoulder, eliciting a scream from the fire-headed girl, who frantically slashed at him to get him to let go. But Naruto easily evaded her, and began to slowly drag the kunai downwards.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Naruto looked up to see Kabuto striding towards him, an annoyed look on his face. "Naruto, you have won the fight. Ami is an important experiment. Stop it."

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger, but pulled out the kunai, letting Kabuto go forward to heal Ami, who was now morphing back into her human state. Turning around, he walked away, noting bitterly that quite a few unmodified children were lying on the floor, bleeding out from where their partners had brutally hacked at them.

There were no medics for them.

* * *

Orochimaru scowled as he looked down at the report. "Blast it! I wanted Itachi's sharingan, not an ordinary one!"

Kabuto shrugged. "Whatever Itachi has done to warp his sharingan clearly cannot be passed onto his descendants. Frankly, the fact that he has a sharingan at all makes him rare. There's only three people who can wield it currently - Naruto, Itachi, and Kakashi, though Itachi did leave his younger brother alive after the massacre, and he could well have the potential to awaken it."

Orochimaru dismissed the mention of Itachi's brother - after all, why worry about some Uchiha brat with ordinary eyes when he had his perfect host locked up in Otogakure? "Well, get back to training him. Now that he has awakened the sharingan, we need him to achieve the full level - but don't show him any jutsu. The last thing I need is for him to start using our own attacks against us."

Kabuto nodded, and turned to go, though he didn't really see why Orochimaru was worried. Even without Itachi's form of the sharingan, Naruto would definitely not have an inferior dojutsu. After all, soon they would implant the Rinnegan, the dojutsu that, combined with Orochimaru's powers, would elevate his master to the level of a god.

* * *

Naruto leaned against the stone wall, shuddering a little as the cold seeped through his shirt. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching, before leaning down and scratching a tiny 'U' into the cracked stone. To anyone else, the U would be practically invisible amid the myriad of cracks that covered the wall, but Naruto had memorized its position so that he wouldn't forget it. He couldn't - it was his only way out.

They had taken to let him walk around the tunnels for exercise, and after the first few times had gone well, they had started letting him wander without a guard. Naruto was not fooled by the illusion of freedom. He had heard the muffled thump of footsteps when there appeared to be no one there, had felt the chakra signatures that were never completely suppressed. They were always following him, and he knew that if he caused the slightest hint of trouble, they would be on him like a ton of bricks. However, just leaning against the wall didn't count as trouble, and they didn't realize his true purpose - putting markers on them.

Otogakure was an endless labyrinth of corridors, but it was one that he would have to navigate if he wanted to get out. So on his walks, he had done his best to memorize the layout, noting where the guards were, where they patrolled, and what they guarded. He had discovered that most of them were centered around the laboratories, but there were also a few around the more important prisoners, and of course, the entrances and exits.

Naruto was always forced back whenever he got near the latter, but that only told him where they were. And he had made sure to note down their position. He didn't know when he would be able to make a break for it, only that when he did, he probably would only have a short period of time in which to make his escape, and he knew that whether he got out depended on how well he knew the area.

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of sobbing. He rolled his eyes as he heard it - crying was nothing new in Otogakure, but it was only the new prisoners that did it. All the others knew that it was no use, and only provided entertainment for the guards. However, his amusement was turned to irritation when the crying continued. He was trying to concentrate, and the stupid sniffling was interfering with that!

Deciding to go and see who was crying and shut them up, Naruto strode down the corridor, following the sound of the sobbing. His search brought him to the cells of the unmodified prisoners, the ones that were just waiting for Orochimaru to pick them for one of his experiments, experiments that not even Orochimaru could really tell if they would survive.

He scanned the rows of cells until he found the source of the crying - the little girl with the blonde hair that had come in with Ami. Her head was bowed, her shoulders shaking. Naruto tapped the front of the bars to get her attention. "Look, could ya please shut up?"

The girl jumped, looking up in surprise. Clearly she hadn't heard him coming. He looked at her expectantly, but tears were still rolling down her cheeks.

Naruto sighed with impatience. "Okay, what's wrong?"

Sniffling, the girl shifted her arms, and Naruto saw that she was holding a small rag-doll, with hair made from blue wool and a mouth of pink stitches. It was very grubby, and nothing like the dolls that the girls in Konoha had paraded around, but she was clutching at it as if it was the most precious thing in the world. As Naruto peered closely at it, he realized what she crying about - the doll's neck was fraying, and its head was two steps away from detaching completely.

He stared at the girl in disgust. "That's why you're crying? Your doll's falling apart?"

The girl nodded slowly, looking up at him tearfully. Naruto groaned inwardly. He wanted her to stop crying, but apparently the doll was precious to her, and she was going to keep on crying about its near-decapitation. There seemed to be only one thing to do.

"Give it here."

The girl looked up at him and hugged the doll to her chest tighter.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "I said, give it here!"

Looking frightened, the girl leaned forward and gently pushed the doll through the bars. Naruto grabbed it, and then forced one of his black threads out of his body. It twisted through the air like a slender black snake, swaying back and forth as it waited for his command. Naruto pushed it into the doll's body, and it began to weave itself through the cloth, not only fixing the doll's neck, but also strengthening her other limbs as the girl watched in awe.

When he was satisfied that the doll was fully repaired, he shoved it back through the bars. "There. Now stop crying!"

The girl nodded, staring at the doll with wide eyes. Naruto straightened up and turned to go, intent on returning to his job of memorizing Otogakure.

"...gato."

Naruto frowned, and looked back at the girl, who was peering at him through the bars. "What did you say?"

"A-arigato. For mending Mikoto-chan."

Naruto looked from her to the doll, then back again. "Umm...okay." He had an odd feeling in his stomach, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

He pondered on the feeling as he scratched 'U's into the walls, as he was led back to the cell, as he was shoved inside. He was so determined to find out what it meant that he didn't even bat an eyelid when Kabuto told him that he would be having another transfusion the next day. Then, as he was lying on his bed, it hit him.

That had been the first time anyone had ever thanked him for anything.

It felt...nice.

* * *

Kabuto breathed a sigh of relief when he checked over Naruto. The boy was lying unconscious on the operating table, but he was breathing steadily, and everything seemed to have gone well. That was a relief - despite Naruto's immortality, there was always the risk of something else going wrong, like brain damage or paralysis. Kabuto had no doubt that it would be his head if Naruto was unable to move - Orochimaru could not take over a host unable to fight.

He lifted up Naruto's hand, studying the palm. A pair of lips were pressed together in the centre, and Kabuto knew that they concealed teeth and a tongue, along with saliva that, when mixed with substances like clay and dirt, formed an explosive substance that was a heavy offense weapon. Such a thing wasn't really Orochimaru's style - the Snake Sannin was more fond of subtle attacks - but it came from Akatsuki, which would make the ability much sweeter for when he used it against the organization.

First, however, Naruto would have to be trained in how to use his new mouths. And he doubted that the boy would be happy.

* * *

Naruto stared at his hand in disbelief. A gleaming row of teeth looked back at him, while a tongue darted out, running across the teeth before withdrawing back into the mouth. A look at his other hand told him that his fears were true, and they'd implanted one there as well.

Next to him, Kabuto nodded in satisfaction. "Well, everything seems to be working properly. Now we'll train you to use them."

Naruto was so shocked at the fact that he now had mouths in his palms that he only nodded slowly. Kabuto pulled out a tiny lump of clay. "Your mouths will turn this material into explosives, so we have to be careful-"

Kabuto paused, frowning. For some reason, an omnious feeling of doom had just come over him.

* * *

Naruto walked back into the cells, listening to the door clang shut behind him and the footsteps of the guard quickly fade away. He snorted to himself. Though he didn't really interact with people outside Kabuto and Guren, he knew that others in Oto talked about him sometimes, about how his body was changing every week, how he would eventually host Orochimaru. Now the guards looked at him with a bit of awe, and a small amount of fear.

He liked that. It meant that they would leave him alone, that they wouln't taunt him like they did the other prisoners. Even so, he couldn't help but feel lonely. Back in Konoha, at least he had the old man to pretend to be nice to him. Here, he had no one.

One of his mouths clicked their teeth, and Naruto shuddered. He had been working with the clay that Kabuto had provided, and the results had been excellent. Though they only gave him small bits of clay, the explosions were still large enough to warrant a private training ground for whenever he used them. However, Naruto could never bring himself to like the unnatural things that spawned the explosions.

Walking over to the pile of clothes in the corner of his cell, he rooted through them until he found the pair of fingerless black gloves that he had been provided with months ago, probably by someone who knew what was going to happen to him. But before he pulled them on, he carefully picked at the clay that was smeared around the edges of his mouths, collecting every scrap. Then he rolled it up into a small ball and added it to the pile under his bed that was slowly but surely growing day by day.

* * *

Naruto frowned as he looked through the scrolls that had been left for him at the end of his bed. As usual, someone had left an anatomy scroll, but there was also a scroll about puppetry, which he had heard of, but never seen in practice.

Picking it up, he looked through the scroll with interest. While he had no interest in being a puppeteer, there was very little to do in Oto when he wasn't training, and these chakra strings sounded interesting.

* * *

"My, you have grown, Naruto-kun" Orochimaru purred as he looked at the boy standing in front of his desk. "I remember when you came here...you were so small back then."

Naruto gritted his teeth. He hated this man, hated him with every bone in his body. Orochimaru had plucked him from his home, turned him into...something, and was planning to steal his body, just because he was afraid of growing old. Naruto didn't know why Guren wanted to be a host - to him, there could be no worse existence than being Orochimaru's vessel.

Kabuto, standing behind him, nodded. "Hai, Orochimaru-sama. Narutok-kun's body has responded well to the implants."

Orochimaru nodded, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the jinchuriki. "I have thirteen more months until I will need to transfer. That gives you plenty of time to implant the remaining abilities before we extract the Kyuubi-"

"Extract what?" Naruto interrupted, his face pale. The Kyuubi was a demon fox with nine tails that had attacked Konoha years before. It had killed many of their ninja before the Yondaime had given his life using a jutsu to kill it, but the children in the playground had often whispered about how if you said its name nine times, it would appear again.

Orochimaru smirked, leaning forward. "Oh, Naruto-kun, didn't anyone tell you the truth about the night the demon attacked?"

* * *

Naruto stormed through the corridors, too angry to even think about where he was going. Orochimaru was a master of lies and deceit, Naruto knew that well. But though Naruto desperately wanted to believe that this was just another of the snake's tricks, he knew in his heart that it was not. The hatred, the sneer, the whispers, the disdain...All of it made sense now.

The Yondaime had not killed the Kyuubi like he had been told. Instead, he had sealed the demon into a container, and then left it in the hands of the village that would never see the container for what it was, only the demon that it housed. Though the Sandaime had forbidden anyone to speak of it to the children, the parents had passed on their hatred to their children, making sure that everyone treated the container as a pariah.

Hell, if Naruto wasn't the container himself, he'd probably have been told to do the same.

Slamming his hand against the wall, he glared at the cracks, remembering the monument back in Konoha, where he'd often sat on the Yondaime's head. The man was thought of as a hero by the whole of Konoha, and even he had been no exception. When the old man had told him about how the Yondaime had heroically sacrificed himself for his village, Naruto had thought that he was the coolest and bravest ninja he'd ever heard of.

But that was no longer the case, not after what Naruto had learned. The Yondaime had been a coward. He had snatched up a helpless baby, someone who couldn't say no, and after sealing a demon inside him, he had died, thus freeing him of any responsibility, and leaving the baby to the mercy of a village that hated it because they couldn't see that he wasn't a demon.

_"How hard is it to tell the difference between the Kyuubi and me? I'm not the Kyuubi...I never have been...have I?"_

He gave a bitter laugh. Of course he wasn't. Because if he was, he would have had the power to destroy the village for what they did, and he obviously didn't have that. At least...not yet.

Suddenly, a scream rang through the air, jerking Naruto out of his thoughts. He looked up with a frown. He was nowhere near the laboratories, and that didn't sound like a new prisoner being frightened by the guards. So where had it come from?

The scream came again and Naruto decided to find out what was going on. Following the noise, he sprinted down the corridors until he found the source.

An Oto genin was shoved up against a wall by an older shinobi, who was leering as he tugged at her green top. The girl was kicking and shrieking, but she was no match for the much bigger man, and it looked like no one else was coming to help her.

Really, it was none of Naruto's business. Though he didn't really understand what the man was doing, he had heard it happening several times before, and he knew that everyone was expected to keep out of it. But for some odd reason - maybe because the girl looked like she was his own age, maybe because he wanted to be thanked for something again, maybe because he still wanted, no, needed some reassurance that he wasn't the Kyuubi - he couldn't ignore it this time.

Stretching out his arm, he sent a mass of black threads shooting towards the struggling pair. The threads wrapped themselves around the girl, who gave a yelp of surprise, before yanking her out of the shinobi's grasp. They retracted back into his body, releasing the girl, who was saved from hitting the floor as he grabbed her.

The shinobi looked angry. "Stay out of this, boy! You have no-"

Then Naruto looked up, fixing the man with a cold glare. "Leave her alone."

The shinobi stiffened, finally recognizing him as the boy said to be the one that was going to host Orochimaru. If he hurt this boy and his master found out, the consequences would be...severe. Shooting him a dark look, he stomped off to find another, more willing female.

The girl gasped, and Naruto looked down at her, seeing her properly for the first time. She had very long dark hair trailing down her back, pale skin, and dark eyes that were looking up at him in shock. "Y-you saved me?"

Naruto tilted his head as he considered this. "Yes. I did."

"Why?"

Naruto shrugged, and gently set her down. "Dunno."

He turned to go, and she grabbed his arm. "Wait? Who are you?"

Naruto gave her a lopsided grin, a darker form of his once cheerful grin. "Naruto."

With that, he strode off, leaving Tsuchi Kin staring after him with curiosity.

* * *

Guren snorted when she saw her student. "How long are you planning to stay up there, brat?"

Naruto glared at her. He was hanging upside-down from the branch of a tree, while his face seemed to be coated in leaves. While this would be seen as extreme training for most, he had no choice. Not only was his chakra control so appalling when he arrived at Otogakure that he had to do exercises like this for days just to bring it up to an average standard, it degenerated easily, meaning that he had to keep working at it just to maintain that average control.

Guren smirked at his expression. "Well, you can have a break now. Kabuto-" her face twisted in bitterness - "wishes to see you."

Naruto let the leaves flutter off his face before he dropped from the tree, flipping over to land in an awkward crouch. Guren tutted. "You need to work on your landing. I've seen civilians that can jump from a tree more gracefully than that!"

Not bothering to point out that civilians wouldn't be able to hang upside-down from a tree using only their feet in the first place, Naruto stalked off, Guren laughing as she walked behind him.

To Naruto's surprise, he was not taken to the laboratories, but to a training room, which was mainly used by the genin of Oto, due to the fact that it was too small for the really powerful ninja to train in. Kabuto and a shinobi with a slashed Suna headband were waiting in the middle of the room with some other children, one of whom was the little girl with the doll. She gave Naruto a tentative smile which he did not return.

The ex-Suna ninja pulled out a scroll, and Naruto looked at it curiously. Then there was a puff of smoke, which cleared to reveal several puppets. They were simple things, with no faces or weapons, and Naruto guessed that they were used for training amateur puppeteers.

Kabuto faced them with a smile. "You're going to be learning how to use chakra strings, which will let you control puppets. The art of puppetry is something-"

Naruto tuned him out as he narrowed his eyes at the silver-haired boy. Kabuto was Orochimaru's right-hand man, his personal medic, his spy. Naruto was sure that he had better things to do than oversee a simple class of puppetry. No, there was something else going on, and Naruto had a nasty feeling that he wouldn't like it one bit.

* * *

The puppet fell to the floor with a clatter, and Naruto swore. His chakra reserves were really too large for the kind of control needed to move the puppet as well as he wanted to. But that would be no excuse for Kabuto, and he knew that he would be forced to go through a variety of chakra control exercises so that he could get his control up enough to use the chakra strings.

Sighing, he looked around the room. Some children were sitting down, having used too much chakra already. Others were still going at it, and Naruto saw that it was actually the younger children that were getting it the fastest, as their smaller reserves meant that they had more control. However, their smaller reserves also meant that they got tired more easily than the older children.

Next to him stood the little girl with the doll. She was trembling with effort, and it was clear that she was going to have to stop any second. But for now, she had managed to make her puppet stumble around in a circle, a fact that she was clearly very proud of.

Suddenly, her puppet dropped down, and the girl staggered. But before she could fall down like her puppet, Naruto leaned over and caught her, steadying her in his arms. "Are you alright?"

She looked up at him and nodded slowly, though he could see that she was still very tired. Gently, he set her down, and smiled to himself.

A demon wouldn't have cared about a little girl. He'd have let her fall.

Kabuto walked to the middle of the room, speaking loudly to get everyone's attention. "I think that that's enough for today. You will return to your cells."

Naruto turned to go, but the little girl was still clinging to his arm. He tried to shake her off, but she only held on tighter, swaying a little, and he realized that if she let go of him, she was probably going to fall over again.

Kabuto looked at them, and smiled slightly, though there was no hint of warmth behind it. "Naruto, you can take Sayuri back to her cell."

Naruto looked down at the little girl, and nodded. "Come on."

He carefully began leading her away from the room and towards the cells where he had seen her before. The corridors were deserted apart from them, and the silence was very heavy to Naruto's ears. In an effort to break it, he smiled at the girl. "So...Your name's Sayuri?"

She nodded slowly, and looked up at him. "Who are you?"

"I'm...Uzumaki Naruto."

It felt good to say his full name. Unlike his body, it hadn't changed at all, and it was something that Orochimaru would never be able to take for himself.

Sayuri nodded, looking at him curiously. "That's a nice name."

Naruto shrugged, the movement baring his shoulders. Sayuri frowned. "What are they?"

Naruto reached up and clamped a hand across his shoulder, hiding the stitches. "Nothing."

"Oh."

They reached the cell, and Naruto gestured. "Go in."

Sayuri looked at the bars fearfully and took a step back. Naruto sighed. "You have to go in, you know."

Sayuri still looked unconvinced, and Naruto was getting impatient. "Look, go in and...I'll be back later."

It was only a careless sentence to convince her to go in, but Sayuri looked quite happy. "Really?"

Naruto nodded and suddenly realized that this probably meant a lot to her. Compared to the other prisoners, he was both the most captive and the most unbound; free to wander around and interact with others, and yet followed everywhere until the time when Orochimaru would take over his body. Sayuri was an ordinary prisoner, and she had no knowledge of what would happen to her. Even so, she looked quite fragile, and probably wouldn't last that long. In that case, surely it wouldn't do him any harm to make her remaining time more pleasant by just dropping in to see her from time to time.

"Yeah. Really."

Sayuri nodded, and slowly walked into the cell. The door closed behind her, and Naruto heard the footsteps of a guard approach, no doubt to lock it securely. The boy turned to go, but not before smiling at Sayuri, mouthing "I'll be back later."

* * *

WHAM!

Naruto's fist slammed into the dummy, which was hurtled back by the force of his blow. The impact had bruised his knuckles, but Naruto knew that there would be no permanent damage. The Kyuubi would see to that, after all - the whole reason why he had been selected was for the advanced healing it gave him.

He was in one of the training rooms, practicing his taijutsu, a rough style that he had picked up by watching the moves Kabuto had demonstrated for him with his sharingan activated. He didn't like using it particularly, as it ate up far more chakra that he felt it was entitled to, as well as the fact that to a boy who had had to work for everything, it seemed wrong to just steal techniques from others, but Kabuto had insisted, and it was the only way he got to practice it, as everyone was very careful for him to not view any jutsus with it activated.

"Uzumaki."

Naruto turned around to see an Oto shinobi standing behind him. "Orochimaru-sama wishes for you to come to Laboratory Six."

Feeling nervousness twist in his gut, Naruto made his way to the laboratory, the shinobi walking behind him. He had known that more abilities would be implanted within him, but that didn't mean he liked the thought of more warping of his body.

Orochimaru looked up as he came in, and Naruto gulped as he saw the row of gleaming surgical knives laid out on a table in front of him. "Ah, Naruto-kun. Come here."

Naruto reluctantly walked over to the Sannin, who leaned over and picked up a needle. "Now, stay still, Naruto-kun."

Naruto winced as the needle pierced his arm, but the pain was soon numbed as he lost consciousness. Kabuto, who had been waiting behind Orochimaru, picked him up and put him on the operating table as Orochimaru began to prepare the next sample.

Kabuto looked at it with a raised eyebrow. "That one? Are you sure?"

Orochimaru nodded, caressing the vials of the Akatsuki samples. Only four remained, one of which he was holding. "The weapons of our shinobi would not do well against the Kazekage's abilities, while we are ill-equipped to deal with an escape via Zetsu's or Konan's powers. Therefore, it is best to leave them to last, thus not giving Naruto-kun much time to experiment with them. That leaves the Rinnegan. After all, we're not going to instruct him in how to use it."

Kabuto nodded. "As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

Darkness.

Naruto was floating in a sea of it, unable to see anything at all. He could feel nothing beneath his feet, yet there seemed to be nothing holding him up either. He tried to move to the right, but there seemed to be no direction in this place; he couldn't tell which way he was going, or even if he could move at all.

**_"So cold...So hungry..."_**

Naruto froze as a voice echoed through his ears. He had never heard anything like it. It was soft as a feather, yet harsher than anything he had ever heard, as quiet as a mouse yet louder than any of the jutsus used by Oto, and entwined with a cold malice that terrified him. Whatever the voice was, he could tell that it was incredibly powerful, but also utterly evil.

**_"Once your kind feared me, now they forget me...Yet even now, you tremble before me!"_**

_'What...what are you?"_

Naruto cringed as a cruel laugh sounded.

**_"I am the first, the most powerful. I am the one that even the god could not kill. I am the one that created Amaterasu, the one that sired Tsukuyomi, the one that birthed Susanoo. I am the nightmare from which your kind can never awake from, the shadow that you are forever trapped within. I gaze beyond Time itself, I see into every life, I know every secret, and I know you. "_**

The boy tried to speak, but it was as if his voice had been sealed up by fear. He had never felt anything so cold, so vile, and he knew that this could not be a dream, because his imagination could never have created something as terrifying as this.

**_"Your captor wishes for you to unlock the full power of the sharingan. Fool...there is no higher sight than my own. But then again, no one was ever able to wield my full power...that god tried, but it killed him in the end. Still, you have so much potential for destruction. So much power...and yet, so much danger. I wonder...Yes. I will let you have the sight I wielded. But there will be a price."_**

Naruto finally managed to speak. "A price? What do you mean?"

But there was no answer.

* * *

Kabuto gasped as he looked at the seal emblazoned on Naruto's stomach. They had examined it when Naruto first arrived, and even Orochimaru had admitted that it would take years for him to puzzle out its full secrets. But now it seemed to be breaking down for the want of a better word, the symbols blurring and melting into each other.

Orochimaru chuckled as he saw what his assistant was worried about. "Calm yourself, Kabuto. This is nothing to be worried about."

"B-but Orochimaru-sama! The seal - it seems to be breaking!"

Orochimaru nodded. "I expected that. Naruto-kun's body can take more abuse than most others, but the seal is not immune from the damage of so many transfusions, and it is slowly weakening."

"But then what shall we do about the Kyuubi?"

"Let me ask you something, Kabuto. Do you know why jinchuriki die when their bjuu are extracted?"

Kabuto blinked. "Not really. There are several theories, the most prominent of which is that the bjuu's chakra is too intermingled with the host's for them to survive without it."

Orochimaru nodded. "I have heard of that one, but there have been cases before of jinchuriki with their bjuu completely locked away, no demonic chakra in their systems at all, that died once the beasts were extracted. No, that does not seem to be the right reason."

Kabuto frowned. "Then what is?"

"No one knows for sure, but Sarutobi believed that it was because the seals bound the soul of the jinchuriki to the bjuu, and once the bjuu was removed, so was the soul of the jinchuriki, which killed them. However, with Naruto-kun's immortality-"

"He should be able to survive" Kabuto finished. It made sense, after all - from what they could tell, Naruto needed nutrients to survive, but apart from that, there seemed to be nothing that could kill him. "But without his soul, you'll only be taking over an empty shell. It'll have his chakra and his control, but none of his memories or jutsus, as was with your first host."

Orochimaru nodded. "I can only stay within a host for three years before it completely dies off, but Naruto's immortality will let me stay forever, and I won't have his soul latched onto mine. I need his body used to puppetry, as there is a limit to the age that one can begin to learn it, but that is all. However, unlike Akatsuki, we don't have a jutsu powerful enough to break through the Yondaime's seal, hence the need to weaken it."

Kabuto frowned. "If you won't retain any of his memories, then why are you having him read medical texts?"

Orochimaru smirked. "He may as well make himself useful, and I intend to start on those special puppets soon. And besides...the soul theory is only a theory. For all I know, it may be a completely different reason, and if so, I rather like the thought of those special little puppets of Sasori's."

* * *

Naruto's eyes struggled open, still feeling a little weak from the anaesthetic. Kabuto was standing over him, but something was wrong - there was a strange bluish glow surrounding him, that Naruto couldn't seem to get rid of no matter how hard he blinked.

Kabuto looked pleased that he was waking up. "We were getting worried about you, Naruto. You've been out for three days."

"Three...days?"

"Yes. But you're awake now. Tell me, can you see any different?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "You've got this weird blue stuff around you."

Kabuto nodded, looking pleased. "That's my chakra, which your new eyes can see. That's good-"

"What do you mean, my new eyes?"

Sighing, Kabuto pointed to the mirror on the wall. Wobbling a little, Naruto got off the table and made his way towards it to peer at his reflection. He leaned forward, and gasped in shock.

His eyes had turned a silvery-blue colour, and had a strange ripple pattern. But that was not the only change. Nine tomoe had appeared in each one as if it had melded with the sharingan. Naruto gingerly raised his hand, and saw that he too had a strange blue glow, only his was much brighter than Kabuto's.

Kabuto walked over to him. "Come along, Naruto. It's time you learned how to start making puppets."

* * *

The room was filled with the sound of woodwork as the budding puppeteers sawed and hammered away at their creations. At first they had only been given pre-made puppet limbs to slot together, but now they were crafting them from scratch, and soon they would be learning how to add weapons to them. Naruto had overheard some of the other children talking about using the weapons they were given against the guards and escaping, and he had laughed at their foolishness. Did they not think that they would be watched carefully and punished if there seemed to be the slightest misuse of the tools?

That was not to say that he hadn't given up on the idea of escape himself. On the contrary, he was working harder at it than ever. He was now eight years old, and his deadline was in nine months. While that might seem like a long time, he was always quite weak for a while after a transfusion, and he was also always carefully watched for a while to see how he was adjusting to the changes. Add that to the fact that he still had no idea about how he was going to slip out from under Orochimaru's nose, and Naruto was beginning to feel his deadline very keenly.

"Are you alright, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked, returning to the present. He was currently sitting on a bench next to Sayuri, with whom he'd built up an odd relationship - not friends exactly, but closer than tolerance. He had gone to see her as promised, and though she had been shocked at his new eyes, her child-like curiousity as well as her desire for companionship had stopped her from cowering away in fear, as some of the other prisoners and shinobi were already doing. That put her as the closest person in his life, a fact that he was uncomfortably aware of.

It didn't mean that he wasn't going to leave, though. He hated it here, hated nearly everyone in it apart from her, and he was definitely not going to hang around for Orochimaru to take over his body.

"Hai. Pass me that saw, would you?"

Sayuri nodded, gingerly picking up the small but sharp tool. Several children had already nearly lost fingers, the limbs only saved by Kabuto's medical expertise. Despite that, Naruto still considered this place to be one of his favourite activities. It let him focus completely on what he was creating, and it was kind of fun as well. When he was working at the puppet, Naruto could forget where he was, forget why he was doing it.

He looked down at the puppet he was making, and smiled proudly. It had the basic shape of a human, and was the same size as him, but possessed numerous areas where weapons could be added, and he had been very careful with the joints, so that they did not creak and give the puppet away when he moved it.

Sayuri's puppet was a lot smaller than his, making it easier to control. He had had to help her with a lot of it, but the result was quite good. It resembled the geisha dolls that were often sold in villages, and it would be easy to conceal small weapons like poisoned senbon inside it to attack at unsuspecting enemies.

Of course, Sayuri didn't view it that way. She just saw it as a friend to Mikoto-chan, which Naruto learned was carried around with her at all times. Like most of the young prisoners in Oto, Sayuri was an orphan, apparently from birth. The doll was the only thing she had brought from her village which she didn't really know much about, only vaguely describing it as 'muddy' when Naruto asked. Like him, she was slowly being stripped of her identity, but in a different way to him; becoming just another prisoner within Oto, and he knew that in some way, Mikoto represented who she really was, and she was determined to not let that go.

Didn't mean that he thought that carrying a doll made her any less of a child.

Sayuri peered over the instructions, her eyes narrowed. "What does that say?"

Naruto looked over her shoulder. "Dismantle. You have to dismantle parts of the puppet if you want to add in something later."

Sayuri nodded, looking a bit cross. Unlike him, she had never been to an academy, and her education was sparse at best. "Can you help me with this bit? I don't know how to put the arm into the chest..."

Nodding, Naruto leaned over to pick up the wooden limb. But before he could, he felt a sharp pain rip through his stomach.

Naruto gasped, and clutched at the table, one arm clutched around his abdomen. It felt as if he was repeatedly struck with a red-hot metal hammer, and his breathing was beginning to get harsh as he desperately tried to suck in air. Dimly, he heard Sayuri ask frantically what was wrong, but before he could answer, he blacked out.

* * *

When Naruto woke up, he became aware of two things: one, he was in his cell, and two, the pain was still there.

Curling into a ball, he squeezed his eyes shut, rocking back and forth. The pain flared sharply, and he screamed, not caring who heard him, tears pouring down his face.

_It hurts it hurts oh kami stop it hurting please please Please!_

Time passed, and he was aware of some people looking through the bars of his cell, but he didn't care. He just wanted the pain to stop.

About three hours in, the pain in his stomach grew worse, and he reached a trembling hand down to pull up his shirt so that he could see what was wrong.

The seal on his stomach, the one that according to Kabuto held the Kyuubi back, was painted in a scarlet, angry-looking light that was glowing fiercely. Naruto pressed his hand against it, and gasped as a deep voice echoed around his head.

**_"So close! Break, you damn seal, break!"_**

It was like the voice he had heard before, but oddly smaller, like an echo. Even so, it was enough to terrify the boy, who instantly withdrew his hand. He didn't know what was happening, and he didn't know why. All he could do was pray for the pain to stop.

* * *

After about a day had passed, the pain did fade, and Kabuto appeared at his cell bars. When Naruto asked him what had happened, he only shook his head, and said that he wouldn't be putting up with it for long, before informing him that he had a special class on puppetry.

Naruto expected for them to be heading for the puppet room, but instead they went to one of the labs. He looked up at Kabuto questioningly, who laughed. "Don't worry, Naruto. You're not having a transfusion today."

Naruto frowned. "Then what are we doing here?"

Kabuto walked over to the operating tables, and for the first time, Naruto noticed the child that was lying on, breathing peacefully. It took a few seconds for him to place the boy, but eventually he remembered him as one of the children in the puppet training. Naruto stared at Kabuto in confusion, and Kabuto smirked. "Like I said, we'll be having a special puppet class today."

* * *

Naruto stumbled over to the toilet, barely making it before he vomited the contents of his stomach. When all of it had gone, he sank to the floor, his shoulders shaking as he looked at his hands in disbelief, unable to believe what he had just done.

Apparently, Orochimaru had found a new, 'improved' way of creating puppets. How, Naruto had no idea, as as far as he was aware, Orochimaru had no talent at puppet-making, but then again, it would make sense, because he didn't know anyone apart from Orochimaru that could come up with an idea as depraved as this.

Kabuto had forced him to pick up a scalpel and turn a boy, a living, breathing boy, into an empty puppet. He had tried to protest at first, but Kabuto had promised punishment if he didn't, and from the glint in his eye, Naruto knew that it would be a very painful punishment. So he had swallowed his disgust and horror down, and got to work, realizing in despair that this was why the medical manuals had been left in his cell, why he had been enrolled in the puppet class.

He could still smell the stench of chemicals and blood, could still feel the weak heartbeat that had slowed as the operation continued, and eventually stopped. He had killed that boy. Kabuto might have forced him, but it was him that picked up the knife and actually did it. He had created that twisted mockery of a human form, and he hated himself for it.

There was a knock at the door, and Naruto glared hatefully at it, knowing that it was Kabuto. "What do you want?"

"There's no need to sound so angry, Naruto. Orochimaru-sama wishes for you to start learning how to control your new puppet."

Naruto stared at the door in disbelief before turning back to the toilet and continuing to choke out his breakfast.

* * *

That was not the first 'special' puppet that he created. On the contrary, he went through nearly half the puppet class, having been informed by Kabuto that that was the reason it had been set up in the first place, to test out Orochimaru's theory that it would be easier to create puppets out of people who had experiance with the art themselves.

So far, he was the unwilling owner of six puppets, two girls and four boys. They hadn't had any weapons added, but looking over them, Naruto could see where they could be added in, and several times, he had caught himself mentally planning on how they could be improved, to his great disgust. Actually using the puppets was not that different to using normal puppets, and soon Naruto was making them waltz around the room, looking for all the world like they were ordinary children taking a stroll. But whenever their clothing shifted, he saw the bolts and stitches betraying what they really were, and it would quickly make him lose his concentration.

No, puppets were not for him, in his opinion. But on the other hands, his mouths were a different matter. He might not like the mouths themselves, but the ability to turn clay and dirt into deadly weapons was something he enjoyed immensely.

The explosions were pretty fun as well.

Currently, he was standing in an enormous cave-like room that he knew had been hollowed out exactly for this purpose, tossing lumps of clay in the air and watching them explode with a loud banging noise. It wasn't very subtle, but he still liked it.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him, and whirled around to see Guren standing behind him, wearing her usual green coat. Her arms were folded, and she looked annoyed about something. He looked at her questioningly, and she gestured impatiently at the door. "Come on! New transfusion!"

Naruto groaned, and she glared at him. "Don't act like that! Orochimaru-sama is on a very tight schedule! He needs to get all of your abilities implanted before he does his jutsu, and he has to leave in a few months to visit one of his other bases, and he intends to transfer your abilities before then, and to do that, he needs to get it all done quick-"

But Naruto was no longer listening. Guren had just given him an idea.

* * *

When Naruto woke up this time, there was no one standing next to him, a fact that he was grateful for. He groggily pushed himself up, and stumbled over to the mirror to check on his appearance.

However, once again, there seemed to be no visible changes. He noticed that his face was a bit leaner, and his hair was getting to be quite long, the front strands that had once framed his face now trailing past his shoulders (he really was going to have to see about cutting it.) But apart from that, there was nothing that he could see that had changed.

Naruto turned away from the mirror, his rippled eyes thoughtful. Well, maybe it was like the sharingan, not going to be visible until something happened to activate it-

Suddenly, he paused. He could feel a strange tugging sensation at the corner of his mind, almost as if something wanted him to look at something. He turned around, but all he could see was the drawer of surgical tools. Frowning, Naruto walked over to look at them, shuddering a little as he ran his eyes over the cold metal. There seemed to be nothing wrong at all.

But the tugging sensation wouldn't leave him alone.

Naruto leaned forward, focusing hard on the metal. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, but maybe if he looked closer-

That was when the knife shot up, nearly impaling him in the eye.

Naruto yelped, and backed away. The knife continued to hover in the air, and he sighed in relief when he saw that it didn't seem to be attacking. But his relief changed to confusion. Why had the knife started hovering in the first place? They hadn't done that before!

He walked over to it slowly, ready to jump away if it attacked again. But the knife remained there, completely still. If only it would stop hovering, then he could feel more at ease-

The knife fell back into the drawer with a clatter, and for the first time, Naruto noticed the slight drain on his reserve. His eyes narrowed. He hadn't done anything to warrant a chakra drain...unless...

Leaning forward, he focused on the knife again, willing to rise up. The knife obeyed, hovering up at his eye level. Naruto willed it to go back down, and it did so. Feeling excited, he tried focusing on the entire drawer. But to his surprise, it didn't move an inch.

Naruto frowned. What had made the drawer different from the knife? Could he only move one object?

He focused on the object next to the knife, a small saw. As the knife had done, it rose up at his command. Naruto tried to shift it from left to right, but that seemed to drain his chakra more, and he let it fall back into the drawer as he stared at it, perplexed. What had the knife got in common with the saw? Well, apart from the obvious, like the facts that they were both used in surgery, and they both had...

Metal in them.

Naruto turned around and focused on the steel operating table. It was very heavy, and it took far more of his chakra than the knife or the saw, but he managed to make it rise about half an inch in the air before it fell back down. Naruto winced at the noise it made, and quickly hopped back onto the operating table, pretending to still be unconscious, not hard with the chakra drain. He needed to investigate this ability further, as well as the rumour that Orochimaru might be visiting another base in a few months. If the snake was moving, so was Naruto - he couldn't get out while Orochimaru was there, but if the Sannin was gone...that was another matter altogether.

* * *

Naruto sat quietly in his cell, reading over the scrolls while trying to keep his excitement down. He had managed to find an exit out of Otogakure that didn't have many guards near it, on account of the fact that it was near the main toilets, and the stench was horrendous. Even so, he still wouldn't be able to just slip out - he had guards trailing all the time, and the bars in his cell were made out a material that wasn't metal, so he couldn't just yank them out (even if they were, he had been training by summoning kunai back and forth, but he didn't think he was strong enough to summon the bars.) And while he had enough clay hidden under his bed to blow them open, he wanted to save it for something more important.

No, he couldn't break out right now. But once Orochimaru was gone, so would he.

He was pulled from his thoughts as a familiar pain slammed into his stomach. Naruto groaned, rolling over. Every month, the seal would glow red, and he would be subjected to unimaginable pain. He didn't know what was causing it, but he wished that whatever it was would stop - he didn't know how much more of this he could take.

* * *

Naruto twitched his finger, and his puppet slammed its fist down, knocking Sayuri's back several feet. He waited, expecting to hear the normal moan about how he cheated, but to his surprise, Sayuri merely walked forward and began picking her puppet.

"Sayuri? Are you okay?"

The seven year old looked up, nodding slowly. But Naruto wasn't fooled. Though Sayuri was often quite tired after they had to spar with puppets, due to her reserves that were drained easily, she was never this quiet.

"Come on, what is it?"

Sayuri looked down, mumbling something. Naruto frowned, and leaned forward. "What?"

"I'm...having an operation tomorrow."

Ah.

No one could ever really predict what Orochimaru was going to do when you ended up in the laboratories; whether he would transfer an ability into you, see what part of your body you could live without, see how potent a poison was, sometimes even fusing you with weapons. But everyone knew that there was a very high death rate, and that even if you did make it out alive, chances were that you'd be a freakish mockery of what you once were.

No wonder Sayuri looked upset.

Naruto felt awkward. He wasn't that good at the whole comforting business, and he couldn't say anything positive while being truthful, could he?

Well then, he might as well lie.

"Don't worry! I'm sure that they won't do anything too bad!"

Sayuri looked up at him hopefully. "Really?"

Naruto nodded, crossing his fingers behind his back. "Yeah! You'll be fine!"

* * *

Naruto fiddled with one of the black threads as he listened to the sound of footsteps approaching his cell. He was feeling nervous - surely they weren't going to implant another ability so quickly - and also a little worried. He knew that Sayuri was probably undergoing her operation right now, and though he wouldn't admit it, she was probably the closest thing he had to a friend in Oto.

Kabuto appeared at the bars, and Naruto looked up as he unlocked the door. "Come on, Naruto. Today, we're going to try something new with the puppets."

Naruto cringed, remembering the children on the operating table. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I think that you'll like this one. We'll be making another human puppet, but this time, if all goes well, they'll stay alive."

Naruto froze. "What?"

"Oh, it'll be tricky, but Orochimaru-sama's been studying an older puppet, and he believes that it can be done. We're practicing it on a prisoner first, but if all goes well, we'll start working on a few others that would do better as puppets."

Naruto wasn't sure how this would work, but he nodded, and followed Kabuto off to the lab. There was a figure lying on a table, mercifully knocked out, and Naruto looked at it. He gasped. "Sayuri!"

The small girl was almost unrecognizable, having been scrubbed thoroughly in preparation for her operation, and was dressed in a paper gown. But Naruto didn't care about that. There was no one else in the lab, and it was painfully obvious who he was expected to make a puppet out of.

"Naruto?"

He turned to look at Kabuto, who was watching him with a gleam in his eye. "Is anything wrong?"

Naruto opened his mouth, before slowly closing it. Yes, there was something wrong. He was locked up in the lair of a madman who wanted to take over his body, a body that had been warped and twisted into kami knew what, he had killed six people, and he was being asked to do worse to the person that he was closest to. But what was the point in saying it?

"No. Nothing's wrong."

"Then let's begin."

When he was creating his first human puppets, Naruto had not been more careful than he had when making an ordinary puppet. Why should he? He knew that they were going to die no matter how careful he was. But this was different. Someone he cared about was on the table, someone to whom he had promised that she was going to be fine. And so he was extremely careful, paying attention to every detail.

But in some ways, that made it worse.

They sliced open her flesh, replacing bones with metal rods that were tough but light, enabling Sayuri to move as quickly as she had as a human. Bolts and wires were threaded through, replacing her natural joints and giving her the ability to rotate limbs that she wouldn't have been able to before. The sight was horrifying, but that was just the beginning.

Her eyes were doused in a liquid that made them harden, and Naruto was reminded of glass marbles as he looked at them. Her blood was slowly drained away and replaced with an odd mixture of liquids that was coloured a dark purple. Kabuto instructed him to pull back the cloth covering Sayuri's stomach, and he obeyed, hiding the object that had fallen out of her clothes.

The internal organs were carefully cut out, leaving her stomach hollowed. Naruto didn't understand how Sayuri could even be alive at this point, and he shuddered to think of what twisted medical means Kabuto was using to keep her so. Never the less, he was grateful, for everything seemed to be going well so far.

Another strange liquid was varnished into her skin, giving it a shiny look that felt cold under his fingertips. According to Kabuto, this would stop it from deteriorating, keeping it preserved forever. Somehow, Naruto doubted that Sayuri would be grateful.

And then came the last two bits, also the most difficult; the brain and the heart. This was judged to be beyond Naruto's ability, and it was at this point that Orochimaru came in, nodding appreciatively as he looked at the small girl. Naruto couldn't understand how Orochimaru could look so happy over what had been done to Sayuri, and his fingers clenched. It was then that Kabuto sent him out, saying that he was to go back to his cell.

Naruto walked slowly, feeling guilt dragging him down. Even if Sayuri survived, she wouldn't be human any more. She'd be a little doll, a cold shell of a living being. And it was all his fault.

He looked down at his hand. Mikoto stared up at him, her button eyes looking accusative. But Naruto couldn't look away. He had hated Orochimaru for what he had done to him. But now, could he say that he was any better?

* * *

A few days later, Naruto was let out of his cell for exercise. This was a perfect opportunity to investigate the exit he had discovered, but he headed over to Sayuri's cell instead. He might be wasting an opportunity, but he had to see that she was alright.

She was sitting alone, her head bowed. Though she stiffened as he approached, she remained where she was.

"Sayuri?" There was no answer, and he hesitantly leaned forward. "Are you okay?"

Sayuri looked up, and Naruto gasped. Her face looked a lot paler, but other than that, it showed no sign of the modifications. After all, no one would suspect a small child of anything, but a small child with gruesome scars over her face was someone they wouldn't like to be around. However, he could see the joint of her neck, and her eyes were shining too brightly under the torchlight.

"What did they do to you?" It was a rhetorical question. He already knew what had been done to her.

Sayuri lifted her hand. The waxy texture of the skin was clearly visible, but more incriminating was the joint of her hand, a bolt clearly seen on it.

"Naruto...they...they..."

She began to make an odd choking noise, rocking back and forth - her only way of crying, as Naruto knew for a fact that her tear ducts no longer worked. But to Naruto, that didn't matter. She had said 'they', not 'you', meaning that she didn't know just who had helped turn into a living puppet. She didn't know who was responsible.

And Naruto couldn't bring himself to tell her.

Instead, he reached through the bars, and pulled her into an awkward hug. She was freezing, her body generating no warmth, and she felt as hard as solid wood, but he ignored that. "Ssh. It's alright, Sayuri-chan."

He had heard people in Konoha call their friends that. Naturally, no one had ever called him by a suffix at all...unless you counted the string of 'baka!' that he got from his classmates.

Sayuri shook her head, the motion making an odd clicking sound. "No...no it's not! Look...at what they did to me!"

He hugged her tighter, trying to soothe her, even as guilt threatened to tear him in two.

Sayuri dropped her hand down, trying to withdraw it into her sleeve. But her thin top was too small for her to hide it completely.

Naruto reached up and pulled off his grey jacket. The chill of the cold corridor bit at him, but he ignored it, sliding the jacket through the bars. Sayuri looked at it in confusion, before understanding lit up her eyes. Awkwardly, she slipped her arms through the sleeves, letting the material pool around her. Naruto had grown a lot, and he was a lot bigger than Sayuri, and she was fairly swamped in the jacket. But it hid the bolts, the joints, the unnaturally shiny skin, and she clutched at it as if she never wanted to let go.

Naruto sighed. He had wanted to break out completely, to leave everything behind. But looking at the small girl in front of him, he didn't think he could. Orochimaru would not just leave Sayuri alone now; she would be kept locked up until he deemed her loyal enough to send her on tasks for his own depraved benefit. And it was his fault.

He couldn't leave her behind.

"Sayuri." She looked up at him. "How would you like to leave this place?"

Her eyes widened, and she nodded frantically, the joints in her neck squeaking.

"Okay, but we've gotta be careful. First-"

* * *

The prison in Kirigakure was a dark, dreary place. There was no glass in the the windows, meaning that rain continuously washed in, and there was certainly no heating - pneumonia and hypothermia were rampant among both prisoners and guards. Despite that, Utakata was a frequent visitor to the area. The beast locked inside his body was a slug after all, and it had transferred its preference of cool, moist places to him as well.

Silent as a ghost, the boy walked through the row of cells, ignoring the fear in the prisoners' eyes as they realized who he was. He was used to it, after all. Few people had ever seen him as a human after all, only the beast he housed. Ironically, one of those people was an enemy of the village he had been born to protect.

He paused before her cell now, narrowing his eyes as he stared into the darkness. "Are you awake?"

A weak voice answered him. "Hai...Is that you...Utakata-kun?"

He nodded slowly. "You don't sound too good."

"I...know. I don't think...that I'm going to last much longer..."

He stiffened at that, but didn't say anything. Because he had so few good things in his life, he had come to accept them going and not coming back. His mother, his father, his teammates. All of them had passed out his life, some by choice, some taken, and it seemed natural that she would as well.

Didn't mean he liked it though.

"I...just wish...that I could see him again."

Utakata frowned. He had never heard of her speak of her life outside this prison at all. It was a defence mechanism - he knew that she had been tortured several times for the knowledge she held, and it was easier not to speak of it at all. "See who?"

Tears dripped onto the stone floor. "My sochi...my Naruto..."

**And that's a wrap.**

**It should be noted now that Sayuri will not be paired with Naruto - in fact, I'm not intending to pair her with anyone. Just thought I'd make that clear before anyone asks. So now Naruto has a weakened seal, and from the sound of it, the Kyuubi's not wasting any time in trying to get out. In the next chapter: the final abilities are added, and Naruto tries to make a break for it. Will he succeed, or be trapped again? And what of Jiraiya, Sasori and Danzo? Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Perfection**

**I ****don't own Naruto.**

Orochimaru seethed as he stalked back and forth across his office, the dark green silk kimono he was wearing gleaming under the candlelight. He couldn't believe how a simple plan could have been botched up so thoroughly. The mangekyou sharingan had been within an _inch _of his grasp, and now it had diminished to a futile dream that he could see no way of bringing to fruition.

He had sent out spies to find out about that strange sharingan of Itachi's, determined to have only the best of dojutsus in his perfect host. It had taken a lot of digging, but they had found rumours that the mangekyou could be activated by killing your closest friend.

Orochimaru would never be able to activate it in that case. He was devoid of any empathy, unable to form bonds at all. He found people useful, and was often amused by their attempts to struggle for his favour, but an actual feeling of friendship?

Forget it.

However, just because he was unable to do that did not mean that Naruto was unable to. He had observed that the boy could at least hold a civil conversation with a younger prisoner, and had decided that this was the perfect opportunity. The problem was, he didn't think that he would be able to order Naruto to kill her outright. Nor did he think that he could make him turn her into one of the human puppets like the other children. No, he needed to be a bit more sneaky.

That was when he worked out that it could be possible to turn someone into a puppet while keeping them alive. However, the process would be extremely complicated and the death rate even higher than his curse mark. And though Orochimaru didn't change the instructions to make sure that there was no chance of her surviving, as he wanted Naruto to make more of those puppets, and the boy would quickly figure out that something was up if he received different instructions for the same thing, he was certain that he would have the mangekyou. After all, it was a fiendishly complicated operation being mostly carried out by a young boy; surely there was no way that Naruto could succeed.

But to his shock, when he arrived at the lab to 'offer his condolences', he found a pale but triumphant Naruto and a girl that was over three-quarters of a human puppet. Orochimaru had considered killing her after Naruto left the lab and then telling the boy that it was his fault, but he didn't know the exact processes of the mangekyou, and it seemed as if the person had to actually kill their friend with their own hands, and see them die in front of them. Merely telling them that it was their fault wouldn't work, and besides, Naruto did not seem to trust Orochimaru, and would probably be very suspicious of an operation that seemed to be going perfectly well suddenly failing after the Snake Sannin entered the room.

Seeing no other way, Orochimaru had ordered Kabuto to complete the operation, while he tried to think up a new plan to gain the mangekyou sharingan. Unfortunately, while the girl might hate the operation, it had made her significantly harder to dispose of. She no longer need to eat (even if she did, she had nothing to digest her food with) or sleep, she had no sensation of heat or lack of it, it would take something significant to make her feel pain, due to the number of nerves that had been damaged, she didn't need to breathe; in fact the only surefire way to destroy her would be by damaging her heart, which was kept in a steel container in her chest - and it would be rather hard to trick Naruto into doing that.

But he would find a way, Orochimaru vowed to himself. He would attain the mangekyou, using any means possible to achieve it.

* * *

Naruto frowned as Sayuri's puppet whammed into his, knocking it out of his control. Since her 'transformation', Sayuri's control had grown, meaning that her use of her chakra supplies was far more efficient. Unfortunately, her chakra network had been stunted, unable to grow physically at all. As chakra was half mental energy, half physical energy, increasing it was going to be incredibly hard for the little girl, but until she did, she was going to be stuck not only with the body of a seven year old child for the rest of her life, but also the reserves of one.

To make up for that, her new body had had some modifications. Much of it was hollow, meaning that she could conceal lots of things within it, while both of her shoulders had storage seals painted on them, so that she could more easily carry things around. Her arms had flexible pipes running through them which led back to empty canisters in her back which could hold gas - apparently, the man that Orochimaru had got the idea of human puppets from had used poison a lot, and the snake was too lazy to come up with another idea. However, her favourite weapon was a serrated metal disk that could fold up and slide inside her right wrist. By using a small amount of chakra, Sayuri could make it spin at extremely high speeds, making it a crude but effective weapon.

Naruto meanwhile was coming along in leaps and bounds. His control over the black threads had extended to being able to move them independent of his body, he was able to move metal for slightly longer periods, and he was being to get adept at moulding clay into ordinary sculptures, even if they didn't really serve any purpose as a weapon.

His skills in puppetry were coming along nicely as well, though as with the sharingan, he had vowed to only use it as a last resort. He was not the type of person to sit around, letting other people do his work for him, and to him, that was what puppetry was about. However, practicing chakra strings was a way to improve his chakra control, and it was fun, in a weird kind of way, to make the puppets walk, dance and fight, like he was watching his own little play.

Dismissing his thoughts, Naruto gently lowered his own puppet down, not going to risk continuing the battle and exhausting Sayuri's chakra. She nodded at him in thanks. "Are you going to have another operation soon?"

Naruto frowned, his mouths gnashing their teeth at the thought. "I dunno. I guess so."

Sayuri tapped her fingers against the face of her puppet, the sound of wood hitting wood echoing around the room. "How...how long is it going to take?"

He knew why she asked. His whole plan depended on timing - that his last operation would happen soon enough for him to be ready when they escaped, but too close to Orochimaru's trip away for the Sannin to risk taking over Naruto's body.

In other words, it was all down to luck.

Naruto didn't like that. He had so little control here, including over what happened to his own body, and now over his escape. It was then that he vowed to himself that, once he got out, he would never allow anyone to control him ever again.

* * *

Naruto leaned against the wall, his hands shoved into his pockets, due to the bitter cold that had swept through Otogakure thanks to the winter outside. He was currently watching a group of adolescents, a few years older than him, fight each other, while others looked on in admiration.

They were good, Naruto had to admit. The boy with two heads was fast, while at times extra limbs would sprout from his body, acting as both a defence and an offensive weapon. The boy with the orange hair had great physical strength. The girl was fast, and her flute could summon strange demons that the others found quite hard to defeat. The boy with four arms (what was with these people and extra body parts?) was quite smart, but what really piqued Naruto's interest was his ability to summon spiders. Even in Konoha, he had heard about ninjas that had contracts with animals, but apparently they were difficult to obtain, and were mainly passed down by clans.

Naruto liked the thought of having his own summoning contract, but he didn't think that he'd be able to get hold of one easily. He had no clan, after all. Even so, he resolved to look into how to get one, preferably one that ate snakes.

They were not the only ones observing the quartet fight. Others, ranging from newbies that were younger than Sayuri to grown adults were watching them, some with distaste, others with admiration. As the orange-haired boy punched the girl, sending her flying back with a stream of expletives issuing from her mouth, a boy with blue hair standing near to Naruto looked excited.

"That guy's pretty strong, isn't he? But the curse mark makes him ever stronger...no wonder he came here to ask for it!"

Naruto stiffened, staring at the speaker incredulously. "What?"

The blue-haired boy looked over at him. "Well, you have to admit, he is quite strong-"

"No, what do you mean by him asking for it?"

The boy looked puzzled. "Well, he was from Iwa, see, but then he left his village so that Orochimaru-sama could make him stronger. Lots of people do it!"

Naruto stared at the orange-haired boy, his rippled eyes narrowed. He had seen the dead bodies in the labs, viewed those who failed to control their mark degrade into mindless beasts, had had various experiments performed on him, had even done one himself - though, in his defence, he was forced. He knew that they were not well-hidden, that anyone enquiring about Otogakure could easily find out about them. So why would he have come?

When he asked the blue-haired boy, he received an incredelous stare. "It's worth it! I mean, sure there's a bit of a risk, but it gives you way more power!"

Naruto looked at the orange-haired boy as his skin grew darker and his hair grew longer, the curse seal morphing him into a monster, one at the beck and call of Orochimaru.

He couldn't understand why anyone would offer themselves up for that.

* * *

Naruto clenched his blanket, twisting the fabric through his fingers as he thrashed on his bed. The pain had come back, but this time, it was worse than normal, and blood was dripping from his lip from where he had bitten it in an attempt to not scream. Beneath his shirt, he could see a faint red glow as the seal twisted and blurred.

This pain had only worsened as time passed, and Naruto was already beginning to learn the pattern. Once a month, he would wake up with a fever, burning heat followed by icy chills. He would feel nauseous, his limbs would shake. Then the seal would begin to burn, and he would be reduced to a quivering heap, wracked with pain.

It scared him, knowing that he would be utterly helpless for at least once a month, that he would never be truly free of this pain. That even after he left this base - if he made it out at all - he would always have to suffer because of Orochimaru's greed.

The seal seemed to grow darker, and Naruto stared at it, his vision blurring slightly. Leaning down, he pulled up his shirt, and gasped.

The red chakra was still there, wreathing the twisted seal in an angry crimson gleam. However, there seemed to be a black colour now as well, dancing along the edges of the seal. As it spread, Naruto howled in pain, for while the red chakra was burning hot, this chakra was incredibly cold, as bad as a knife being dragged along the seal.

Naruto arched his back as the burning and freezing of his stomach continued. As miserable as he was, he did have a small amount of comfort within his suffering, because he knew that at the same time, Orochimaru was suffering too.

* * *

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he watched Ami walk towards him with a smirk. She had clearly been undergoing some training, as her body was leaner and more muscular, while in her hand she carried a sharp katana. However, the most noticeable change was her outfit. Gone was the pink-striped dress; now Ami wore a pair of black shorts and a long-sleeved olive green shirt, while on her head was a hitai-ate, a musical note carved into it.

Naruto tilted his head, considering her. Before, Ami had been unpleasant, and a bit of a psycho, but that was all she had been. But now that she was officially on Orochimaru's side...

She was his enemy.

And he could not show mercy to her.

The signal for the fight was given, and Naruto could tell from the strange flickering of her chakra that Ami was beginning the process to activate the curse mark. But before it was complete, Naruto had leaped forward, his hand pulled back for a punch. Ami was too busy concentrating on bringing out the curse seal that she wasn't aware of his fist shooting towards her until it was too late.

With a thud, she was sent reeling back, falling ungracefully to the floor. Naurto didn't give her any time to recover, springing towards her with the kunai he had been given. Unfortunately, she managed to block his blow with her arm, kicking out at his shin. He dodged, leaping backwards as she scrambled to her feet, eyes murderous.

Naruto shot both of his arms forward, the black threads linking his wrists to his shoulders. Ami snarled, and jumped forward, her speed and strength increased by the seal. She sliced at him with the katana, but his training under Guren let him dodge her blows, though he nearly got his arms tangled up as he twisted under her flailing limbs. And then, when she was distracted, he dove up, and sliced her arm from shoulder to elbow.

Blood splattered the floor, a bit even landing in Naruto's open mouth as he grinned. He spluttered, involuntarily swallowing a bit of the warm liquid, but despite the horrid taste in his mouth, Naruto was triumphant, because he'd managed to land a hit on her, and the look of shock on her face was incredibly sweet-

Then he felt it. A chill that started in his chest, but spread through his limbs, coating them in a wrapping of cold. Before he could consider what it meant, his feet began moving against his will, as if someone was dragging them using puppet strings. They seemed to be tracing something into the ground.

Ami gasped, and he looked at her in confusion before following her gaze to his body. His eyes widened in shock.

His skin had turned black - not merely a dark brown, but pitch black, like someone had dipped him in ink. Against the blackness, ivory white streaks appeared, and Naruto realized that it was tracing out his skeleton. His gaze dropped to his feet, and he saw what his feet had been tracing out - a dark red symbol, with a triangle touching the sides of a circle. He tried to step out of it, but he seemed rooted to the spot.

Ami chuckled nervously, and to Naruto's great shock, began forming a handseal. Either she didn't know about the rule of not showing him any jutsus, or she didn't care about it. Well, Naruto wasn't going to waste this opportunity. He activated his sharingan, knowing that his eyes would stay the same - they had ever since he had had the operation that had also turned them rippled - and copied her jutsu even as she performed it.

A stream of fire flew from Ami's mouth, heading towards him. Naruto tried to leave the circle to dodge it, but it was as if someone was compelling him to stay. All he could do was stand there, and wait for the flames to hit him.

Naruto howled in agony as he was barbecued, pain flaring over the affected areas, that is, his head, arms, chest and stomach. But to his surprise, Ami screamed too, in a far shriller voice. Naruto forced himself to look up, despite the pain it caused him, and saw to his shock that Ami had been burned too, her flesh blackened and melting. But while he had the demon inside his body already healing the wounds, Ami was on her own. Naruto watched her slump to the floor, and considered calling for a medic.

He decided against it.

He had never liked her that much anyway.

Eventually, the black and white marks faded away along with Ami's soul. Naruto stood in the middle of the room, eyeing her burned corpse contemplateively.

That was the first time he used the Jashin jutsu.

It would not be the last.

* * *

Guren nodded as she looked at him. "You've come along well, brat, I have to admit."

Naruto shuffled his feet, feeling nervous. Any compliment from Guren normally had a sting in the tail, and from the gleam in her eye, he had a feeling that this would be no different.

"So...I'm going to teach you how to use a sword!"

Naruto blinked. "What?"

Guren smirked, leaning back. "Well, Orochimaru-sama uses swords, he's quite good at kenjutsu in fact. But when he takes over your body, it'll be harder for him to use them for a while if your body's not already used to them. So, we need to start you on learning kenjutsu, so that you'll be ready in time. You'll be nowhere near mastery though, as Orochimaru-sama looks like he doesn't have long-"

She froze, her face pale. Naruto had known that the months were ticking down for Orochimaru until he would have to leave his body, that the Sannin was growing weaker as his vessel slowly deteriorated. Everyone in Oto knew. They'd seen him after all, stalking through the corridors like a vengeful ghost, shaking and coughing. But apparently it was blasphemy to speak of it, as Guren did not restart the conversation. Instead, she merely tossed an object at him, Naruto catching it automatically. It was a tanto, one that looked fairly new. He looked up from it, just in time to see the kunoichi form a blade of blue crystal on her arm, a sadistic smirk on her face.

Yep, definitely not a good compliment!

* * *

Kabuto frowned as he watched Naruto spar against the little puppet-girl; his speed, and black threads against her body of wood and metal. To be honest, she didn't really have a chance against Naruto - unlike him, she had received no training, and her body, while a good defence, had slowed her down a bit. Despite that, she was putting up as best a fight as she could, slamming her fists against his body she could; quite painful when you considered that her fists were made out of wood and metal.

Sadly, sparring against the girl, either using fists or puppets, and training with Guren was all that seemed to take up the boy's time right now - not a good thing, as they knew he was aware that the body-switching jutsu needed to be performed within four months, and in a few days, they were going to add Konan's abilities, and if Naruto gained more control of it than they had predicted, then he would be easily able to slip between the bars of his cell. He needed to be moved, but also provided with something to stimulate him so that he didn't get bored and start messing around with his abilities.

Kabuto's lips lifted in a smirk. He had just the thing in mind.

* * *

Naruto's eyes struggled open, blinking a little under the harsh light of the laboratory's white lamps. Another operation had come and gone, leaving him to deal with the aftereffects. Groaning, he rolled off the table, landing awkwardly on the floor. Biting back a curse he had learned from one of the guards, he staggered over to the mirror, and saw to his relief that once again, there were no visible changes.

The door opened, and Kabuto stepped in. "Naruto, come."

Gritting his teeth at the command - it made him sound like a pet dog, something he most definitely was not - Naruto got up to follow him. Still weak from the anesthetic, he stumbled, and nearly hit a large red button. Kabuto looked annoyed. "Be careful, Naruto. That button would summon all the guards, and they wouldn't be happy to find it was you who brought them, would they?"

Naruto shook his head as he thought it over. Kabuto nodded, and then walked out of the lab, Naruto following him. To his surprise, however, he was not led back to his cell, but along a different passageway. "Hey, where are we going?"

Kabuto smiled. "It's been decided to move you to a more comfortable setting, now that you're close to becoming Orochimaru-sama."

Kabuto led him over to a door, one that was inscribed with seals commonly used for holding prisoners, though Naruto didn't know it - the extent of his sealing knowledge was how to seal objects into basic seals, like the ones that Sayuri had on her body. The door was pushed open, and Naruto gasped.

The room inside was quite large, and as it had no windows, there were bright lights hanging from the ceiling. It had the appearance of a workshop, with a table and a desk of open drawers that were filled with what looked like carpeting tools, but also a small bed in the corner, upon which Naruto's spare clothes and the scrolls he had been given were piled. But that was not what drew Naruto's attention - it was the six human puppets he had made, hanging off the wall on hooks like animals in an abattoir.

Naruto stared from them to Kabuto, who smirked. "This is your new room. You can use it to modify your puppets, and study your scrolls, and train with them for a bit. We can even let your little friend come in as well, though you'll only be allowed out for training and of course, your final operation."

Naruto nodded calmly, though his mouth-teeth were grinding together in rage. This was an opportunity that he couldn't miss, but even so, he couldn't believe the audacity of the older boy. He knew that Orochimaru would be using these puppets for his own end if he took over Naruto's body, and that by 'modifying them' Kabuto only meant changing them so that they'd be better for Orochimaru to wreak havoc with.

Naruto looked up at the puppets, their glassy eyes staring back. He had done that, he had made human beings into tools for Orochimaru to play around with. But if he put them to good use...Used them against the man who had forced him to kill them...

That would be quite fitting, wouldn't it?

* * *

Sayuri was utterly silent when she first came into the room, staring up at the human puppets in shock. Naruto knew what must be running through her head - she could have easily ended up like them, and only an organ in a steel canister separated her from them. The silence only lasted about five minutes before she whirled around and demanded to know what was going on.

Naruto explained his plan to her - that these puppets were already dead, and it was all thanks to Orochimaru. In that case, then they might as well make something of their deaths by using them against the Sannin. This was still rather disturbing to the little girl, who decided that Naruto could use the human puppets, while she stuck with the ordinary ones.

Naruto had a feeling that she would change her tune soon. There was something about these puppets that made them superior to ordinary ones; they were harder to control, but Naruto had a feeling that they could be quite devastating once you learned how to do that.

There was something else about the human puppets that interested him. Like living humans, they also had the glow of chakra in them, something that ordinary puppets did not. In that case, could they perform jutsus like humans as well?

He was itching to try out the jutsu that he had copied off Ami, but he didn't quite dare. The room they were in looked secure, but he knew that they were being watched somehow. It was also practically impossible to leave - it was always locked, and Naruto knew that the seals on the door weren't there for show. As if that wasn't enough, there were also tiny vents in the ceiling that gas could be filtered through to knock him unconscious. Really, there would be no chance to escape if he was in this room.

That suited his plans perfectly.

* * *

Naruto laid the first puppet on the table, looking over it critically. It was a boy, with short purple hair and red eyes, about thirteen years old. He had been a genin before he came here, Kabuto had told him, and it showed in his lean form. However, that was all Naruto knew about him, and he couldn't help but wonder what the boy had been like. Which village was he from? Why had he become a shinobi? How good was he? Did he want to become a jounin or a kage? How had he ended up in Orochimaru's clutches?

_Did he know when he was walking into that lab that he'd never come out again?_

Sighing, he turned to look at the row of weapons lining the tray next to the table. All of them had come from imprisoned shinobi, and thus were too big for him to wield comfortably. Even if they weren't, he'd have no chance using them against the guards, all of whom knew a variety of jutsus, and had been hand-picked by Kabuto to stop him from escaping if he tried. No, he'd have to stick to the original plan.

Naruto leaned forward and picked up a ninjato, studying the smooth blade. "What do you think, Sayuri-chan?"

Sayuri looked up from where she was sitting cross-legged in a corner, a scroll in her lap. She tilted her head, looking at the weapon then at the puppet. She nodded. "I think that it would suit him."

Naruto grinned, and then turned to the puppet, manipulating his arm until it opened, revealing the metal bones that he'd known were there. His metallic power had slowly improved, until he could sense every object of metal in the room. It also seemed to make puppet-crafting easier, as he knew instinctively how the metals would fit best together.

A good thing too - he needed every advantage in a game where the odds were so heavily stacked against him.

* * *

The door to the room slammed open, and the children looked up. Guren was standing in the doorway, looking murderous. "Brat, it's time for your training. Come, NOW!"

Feeling worried, Naruto followed her out of the door, wincing as it slammed shut behind him. Guren was clearly in a very bad mood, but he didn't know why.

For three hours straight, Guren drilled him mercilessly through his kenjutsu, slicing at him with her crystal blade while also causing the glittering rocks to shot up from underneath and around him, forcing him to be constantly dodging and attacking. By the time they were done, he was exhausted and battered from head to toe, but Guren didn't crow about this like she normally would. Instead, she leaned against a nearby tree, staring up at the sky.

"Guren?" Naruto asked quietly. He had never seen his strong, sadistic teacher like this, not ever. "Are you alright?"

Guren turned to look at him, her gaze contemplative. "Orochimaru...sama is going to take you over in four months, isn't he?"

"Three months and two weeks" Naruto muttered.

Guren pushed herself away from the tree, her hair beginning to come out of its style after the tough fight. "Well...when you join with him...are you going to continue this puppet stuff? You know...making people into them?"

Naruto thought about that. The human puppets had a lot of potential, that was true. They were able to use chakra, and apparently their jutsus and kekkei genkai could be preserved in them. But he didn't think that he could ever do that to another person. Not after Sayuri. A corpse maybe, but there was no way he could turn living flesh and bone into wood and metal ever again.

And he wasn't going to 'join' with Orochimaru, so the point was moot anyway.

"No. I wouldn't."

A look of relief passed over Guren's face for the briefest of seconds before it was abruptly wiped away. "Come on, brat! You've had enough time playing around! Let's see you dodge _two_ blades!"

* * *

Naruto was lying on his stomach, fiddling with a pencil as he looked at the piece of blank paper in front of him. Sayuri had discovered the stationary in the drawers, probably for sketching out designs for new puppets for Orochimaru to send against his enemies when - _if_- he took over Naruto's body.

She wanted to use them for drawing a picture.

Naruto lifted his head, watching her. Her hand, waxy with the joints clearly visible, was flying across the page, shaping a rough, childish drawing of two people, one with spiky yellow hair and the other, smaller figure with hair of a similar shade standing a few inches above a streak of green that he assumed was meant to be the ground. Both of them were holding grey shapes that he could tell were weapons, but the smaller figure was also holding something that he could tell by the blue hair was Mikoto.

He turned his head away, not wanting to look at the heart-wrenching fusion of a little girl and a cold puppet, not while knowing that he was the cause. Instead, he picked up his piece of paper, smoothing out the crease in the corner as his gaze wandered around the room. He aimlessly scanned the table, the tools, the drawers, until he saw a small spider in the corner. It was sitting completely still, its eight eyes fixed straight ahead. Naruto tilted his head, examining it. The spider's chakra was quite weak, as to be expected on an insect - no, arachnid, he remembered - but it was resilient, shimmering around its tiny body. Naruto counted the eight spindly legs, the small body, the gleaming eyes, focusing completely on it-

"How are you doing that?"

Jerked out of his trance by Sayuri's voice, Naruto followed her astonished gaze down to his hands, where the paper sat, only it was no longer a flat sheet. His fingers had twisted and folded it into a white shape that he recognized quite easily.

A spider.

"What...what happened?"

Sayuri looked up at him oddly. "You just started making your paper into a spider. It looks really cool!"

Naruto nodded, staring down in bemusement at his creation.

Sayuri got out the rest of the paper to see if he could do it again. To Naruto's astonishment, he seemed to be able to mould the paper into any form he wanted, the only limit being the amount of the stuff he had. To Sayuri's delight, he created birds, spiders, a small cat, and a few dolls before they ran out. "How can you do that?"

Naruto looked at the paper, his eyes narrowed. "I...I don't know."

* * *

Orochimaru sat down on his chair, trembling a little. As the time for him to transfer approached, he was growing steadily weaker. If only he could take on Naruto's body now! Unfortunately, they still were not ready to extract the Kyuubi. There was a man, a minor seal master in Kusa, who was rumoured to have the expertise, but journeying to Kusa, finding the man, persuading him to come with them and journeying back could well take up to a month.

However, he still had time. He could hold out for a few more months, and he intended to. After all, there were things that he needed to do, things that would have to be put off if he had to spend time adjusting to a new body, and Naruto would need to learn some more kenjutsu.

Orochimaru's gaze drifted over to his sword, Kusanagi, which was hanging on the wall, reminding everyone who came into the office of how dangerous its wielder was. He did not like not carrying it within a snake within his body, but as his current vessel was so weak, he dared not risk having one of Manda's subordinates inside him.

Orochimaru had not gained the summoning contract as he was meant to, by proving himself to the snake masters as Jiraiya had done to his toads, but by murdering the previous summoner and stealing the contract from his corpse. Because of that, the snakes were quite reluctant to be bound to him, and the slightest hint of weakness would be repaid with betrayal. Orochimaru had no wish to swallow a snake to protect his sword, only to be ripped apart by it from the inside.

His gaze left Kusanagi and went to the display case in the corner, where a scaled dagger rested behind thick glass inscribed with security seals. Orochimaru had tried to wield it himself, but had only gotten spikes through his hand for his trouble - there was only one person the blade would obey, and that was Naruto. Well, no matter. Once he had the boy's body, it would obey him. Until then, it would sit in that case, a testimony to what he could create.

It was also a very good deterrent for stealing. Anyone who tried grabbing it would get mangled hands, something for him to chuckle over as he killed the thieves. Yes, that sword would be worthy of his new body - though he would always favour Kusanagi, of course.

Sighing, Orochimaru then directed his mind to less pleasant things, mainly the large pile of paperwork that overflowed from his desk. If he needed proof of his old teacher's toughness, it was daily slapped in his face; anyone able to deal with this amount (or larger, when you considered how much bigger Konoha was than Oto) of paperwork definitely deserved to be hailed as the 'God of Shinobi!'

* * *

Sayuri feverishly scanned a scroll, her eyes nearly crossed with the effort to make out the more difficult words. Besides her, Naruto was slumped forward, his arms clasped around his midsections as he shivered wildly. The fever had started, and soon would come the pain, the horrible pain that had him wishing for death at every moment. Sayuri had never seen Naruto like this before, and it was terrifying her. To combat this, she was hunting through the scrolls that had been given to Naruto, trying to find something to stop it.

Naruto weakly turned his head to peer over her shoulder. "Found...anything...yet?"

Sayuri shook her head, tossing the scroll over her shoulder and reaching for the last one, which had only been given to Naruto two days before. Unlike the others, it actually had a few jutsu in it, but they had been judged useless for fighting, and thus not very dangerous to give Naruto, if he could learn them at all.

Pulling it open, Sayuri began to stumble through it, occasionally asking Naruto what a word meant. His voice grew hoarser as the time went by, and Sayuri was getting desperate when he spoke again. "What's...that one?"

Sayuri looked at it, her glassy eyes narrowed. "It's the body nomming..._numbing_ technique. It stops you from feeling anything, but it only lasts twenty minutes-."

Naruto nodded, sweat trickling down his face. "Do it..."

Like everyone else in the puppetry class, Sayuri had been taught to mould her chakra. However, she had never actually performed a jutsu before unless you counted the chakra strings, and she had to squint several times at the handseals listed for it. Even then, it took her about an hour to get the jutsu right, by which time Naruto was groaning in pain.

Finally, a blaze of emerald chakra surrounded her palm, and Sayuri quickly swung her hand into Naruto's chest. There was a brief green flare, and Naruto sighed in relief. The pain had completely vanished, but as he sat up, he realized that so had every other sensation. He couldn't feel the cold floor he was sitting on, couldn't feel the heat of the fever, couldn't even feel the hand Sayuri had used for the jutsu, even though it normally felt cold when he touched her.

He could see why this jutsu couldn't have any practical combat use - it would be far too easy to get a serious wound and not notice until you dropped dead.

Sayuri meanwhile was feeling quite good about herself until the chakra drain hit her. She groaned, her legs folding as she sank to the floor. Even though she could no longer sleep, she still 'recharged' herself by going into a sort of trance-like state, her body completely still. It did not regain chakra as quickly as sleep would, but then again, her body did not need rest as much as people who did sleep would. From the look of things, she'd have to 'recharge' for a long time after this.

Naruto, noticing her condition, carefully propped her up against the wall. Sayuri glared at him. "Stop it!"

Naruto grinned mischievously. "Well, someone has to make sure that you get to bed on time."

Sayuri stuck her tongue at him, and Naruto tried to show his nausea at the muscle, which was a very pale colour and had several wires running through it. "You're not my ka-san, Naruto."

Naruto nodded. "Thank goodness."

She gave him an irritated look, but it changed to a more serious one. "Naruto...did you have a ka-san?"

Naruto stiffened. For as long as he could remember, he had been on his own. When he was younger, some genin teams had babysat him and taught him how to cook and clean sufficiently, but after he was deemed capable enough to manage by himself, they had stopped coming. Apart from the ramen stand people and the old man, everyone had either ignored him or treated him with disdain. Once, when he was feeling very lonely, he had asked the old man if he had any family. The old man had looked at him strangely for a minute, before telling him that no, his parents had both died in the Kyuubi attack.

And yet...

There was a faint memory in his mind, one that he was barely hanging onto, of the feeling of someones arms around him while a soft voice had whispered _'You're so clever, Naru-chan! Yes, you are, yes you are! You're Ka-san's clever little boy!"_

He had told the old man about it, who had insisted that it was probably only a dream, or that he had just imagined it. Despite that, Naruto had always clung to the faint hope that it was real, that someone really had once spoken to him with such love in their voice. But as the years passed, he had begun to accept the fact that perhaps he _had _only imagined it out of loneliness, and that the old man was being truthful.

Suddenly realizing that Sayuri was still waiting for an answer, he shook his head. "No, why?"

Sayuri looked down at her hands. "Cause I asked the others when we got here, and no one had a family. So I was wondering if you were any different, or if it was just people with no families that ended up here."

Naruto looked at her silently, before a wide grin spread over his face. "You're wrong, Sayuri-chan. You do have a family."

Sayuri looked at him oddly. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto thumped his chest. "Me, baka! We're practically family!"

Sayuri stared at him. "Really?"

Naruto nodded, though he had a feeling that she thought they were practically family in a different way than he did. He had technically created the puppet-girl in front of him, making him practically her father.

Sayuri smiled softly, though there was a hint of mischief in it. "Thank you...ojiisan."

Naruto spluttered. "_Ojiisan?"_

"Well you are really old compared to me!"

"No I'm not!"

"You are! You're _years _older!"

While they lightly bantered, Naruto thought over what Sayuri had said. He, Ami, Sayuri, none of them had had families, that was true. His eyes narrowed as he remembered the people that had sent him here, the old man and his friends. He had heard that they were in charge of lots of things, including the orphanages. Except that instead of looking after those orphans, they were just sending them here.

_'The bastards! I'd like to perform some experiments on THEM, and see how they like it!'_

Mentally, he noted it down for later. His human puppet collection was rather small...and he also needed to test out that skeleton ritual...

A jolt of pain tore him from his thoughts as the jutsu slowly wore off. Gasping, he leaned back, hugging his stomach in an attempt to lull it. Unfortunately, the pain refused to be soothed, and soon he was absolute agony.

Sayuri stared helplessly as Naruto collapsed, rocking back and forth on the floor. She didn't have much chakra left...but she was pretty sure that she had just enough to perform the jutsu one more time. But would it be worth it?

Naruto's scream of pain answered her question.

Checking carefully over the scroll, she performed the handseals again, and the green chakra surrounded her hand once more. Sayuri carefully knelt beside the older blonde, trying to see which area was hurting the most. It appeared to be his stomach, and she carefully pulled his shirt up, before staring at him in confusion.

There was what looked like a circle with squiggles in it painted on Naruto's stomach, and it seemed to be moving, the squiggles lengthening and shortening before her eyes. Sayuri had a vague idea of seals, even had some on her body for storing items, but to her, this didn't look like a seal at all. But it appeared to be what was hurting Naruto, so she leaned forward, and placed her glowing hand against it.

**_"FOOLISH BOY! GIVE IN! LET ME OUT!"_**

Sayuri gasped as a voice seemed to scream around her head, jerking away from Naruto, who slumped back, the pain temporarily halted. He seemed to have lost consciousness, but Sayuri wasn't looking at him. She was staring at her hand, which had the appearance of burned wood on the area that had touched the circle. If she had not been a puppet, it probably would have felt incredibly hot.

As her body slowly shut down to begin the chakra-regaining process, there was only one thought echoing around Sayuri's mind.

_"What was that...niisan?"_

BOOM!

Naruto shielded his eyes as the remnants of the top half of the tree he had just flung the dirt chewed by his mouths rained down around him. Apparently Guren's theory about any earth doing for his explosives had been right after all, even though it seemed that clay was the most effective.

Next to him, his blue-haired teacher nodded happily as she surveyed the damage. "See, brat? Ninjas have gotta be versatile - and from the looks of it, you've got that part covered!"

Naruto nodded happily, though he was a bit disappointed by the lesser damage - if he had used the same amount of clay as he did dirt on that tree, it would have been completely blown to smithereens.

Seeing his expression, Guren put her hands on her hips, looking at the tree. "Have you thought about trying to make your attacks more effective?"

Naruto looked puzzled, so she elaborated. "Well you see, techniques like these can work quite well, but you're not using any chakra in them. If you did, they could become much more powerful."

Naruto frowned. "How do I do that?"

"Simple. You just-"

After Guren had spent about twenty minutes lecturing him about how to feed chakra into objects, she realized that it was getting late, and took him back inside. As Naruto walked in, he thought about what she had told him. He had been very puzzled about his origami skills, which seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. After thinking things through, he had come to the conclusion that it must have come from his most recent operation. But what he couldn't figure out was why Orochimaru would want him to have an ability like that. It was interesting, but not really that useful on a battlefield.

But if it was possible to add chakra to the paper...what sort of things could he create then?

* * *

Sayuri watched curiously as Naruto laid a hand on the paper bird he had created, his eyes shut as he concentrated. However her confusion turned to delight as the bird shivered and then flapped its wings, rising into the air. "Wow! That's great, niisan!"

Naruto nodded, watching the bird swoop through the air. The creature was fairly easy to control, seeming to respond to his thoughts rather than any specific command, and it hadn't even cost that much chakra to make. However, he doubted that this was the full extent of this paper power - no matter how much it amused Sayuri, Orochimaru would not have injected it into him so that he could animate paper animals.

So, what would Orochimaru have injected it in for?

He looked around the room until his gaze landed on the tray of weapons, now greatly depleted, most of them having been used in the puppets. Even Sayuri had had a few modifications, her favourite one being a chain whip that was capable of breaking bone when she flicked it out of her wrist. Naruto's eyes narrowed, and the bird fell apart into separate pieces of paper. Ignoring Sayuri's cry of protest, he concentrated hard, and the paper molded itself into a model of a katana, which hovered in the air. Naruto grinned. _'And now to test it.'_

He motioned at the table, and the paper katana soared towards it. Naruto didn't know what he was expected, perhaps for a shallow slice through the wood, but he certainly wasn't expected the katana to cut through the thick wood like steel through butter, causing an entire corner of the table to fall to the floor.

Sayuri stared from the sliced table to the katana to the pieces of paper lying unused. Naruto followed her gaze before a smirk appeared on his face. There was a lot of paper in Oto.

They had just found a new weapons supply.

* * *

Cold.

Wet.

Depressing.

Those had been Takeshi's first impressions when he was dragged into this prison three months ago. Back then, he had been kicking and screaming, trying to escape from the masked men that had captured him, and so hadn't paid much attention to the details of the dreary Kiri prison. But the frigid air wafting through the building, the rain that slunk in through the window and soaked into the stone floor, the despairing eyes of the prisoners, they were all things that couldn't be missed, and as the weeks passed, they had become etched into his memory until he didn't think that he'd ever forget them for as long as he lived.

Then again, giving that his life was going to be cut short in two weeks, that wasn't saying much.

Chuckling bitterly at the thought, the ten year old leaned back against the wall, ignoring the chill that seeped into his sodden shirt. It was impossible to escape from the water in here, and he was always soaked to the bone. His cellmate, who was currently lying on a mat that was probably crawling with fleas, had been here less time than he had, and she still complained about the wet, never realizing that it was something that they all got used to.

Takeshi was aware that he must look horrible. His blue hair was tangled and matted with blood, his clothes were ragged, and he had a cough that refused to leave him. A far cry from the boy he had been just a year ago.

Takeshi had been born into the Chiseigyoki clan, his father being one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. The Swordsmen were people of prestige, and Takeshi had grown up being respected as his father's son, and while they had not been rich like the Mizukage and his advisors, they had a comfortable lifestyle, with plenty of clothes, food, and a nice house, and he had assumed that things would always be that way.

When Takeshi turned five, his shinobi training had begun. He hadn't taken it very seriously - he was a joker at heart, and he had found it boring to hang around, listening to his father explain how to be a ninja, but he had managed to get along well enough for his age, and as he wasn't the clan heir, the elders were satisfied with his progress. And then, when he was eight, he managed to awaken his kekkei genkai, the Chiton. It allowed their clan members to have control over their blood, much like the Kaguya clan had control over their bones. His father had proudly told him how it was practically impossible for them to die of blood loss, how they could purge unwanted elements like poison from their bloodstream, how they could move it independently from their bodies, form it into lethal weapons, even track others by sensing their blood.

Takeshi had been more inspired by his uncle, who had told him that it had also helped the clan become some of the greatest perverts in the world, as they could quite happily read porn all the time without getting nosebleeds.

Then the first of the bad events started. His father was killed on a mission defending a spoiled daimyo's daughter who had disobeyed his orders to stay in her room and had gone off to meet her lover. The daimyo had sent Takeshi's mother a letter, stating how sorry he was, how by taking a sword for the daimyo's daughter that had been wielded by her lover, an enemy shinobi in disguise, that his father had created a debt that the daimyo would strive to repay, blah blah blah. The pretty words had meant nothing to Takeshi, who had lost his father and, in some ways, his mother, who was never the same again after the loss of her husband.

But that wasn't the worse part. It was soon after his father died that he had heard people talking about the murders, people disappearing only to turn up dead. Takeshi had not paid any attention to this - even in those days, Kirigakure had been a rough place, and murders were not that uncommon. But as the body count rose, and people began to realize that every victim had had a kekkei genkai, the clans had turned to their kage, seeking help - only to find out that it was the government encouraging these murders, telling the people that it was the bloodline wielders that had been the causes of the wars that had nearly torn their country in two.

It was as if the entire village had been turned into a bloodthirsty mob that would only be satisfied with the deaths of every last kekkei genkai holder. Friends turned against each other, children were slaughtered in their beds, shinobi cut down by their own comrades, clan homes looted and destroyed, entire families burned alive so that they could not 'contaminate' anyone else; there seemed to be no end of the butchery. One by one, Takeshi's clan had been whittled down, until there was just a handful of them left, holed up in tiny secret places. Then his mother had made the mistake of trusting someone she shouldn't have, and their safe house had been raided, with everyone being dragged off for 'sentencing.'

Takeshi scowled as he remembered the mock court, the judge being the Mizukage while the jury had been a mob of people screaming for their heads. One by one, the bloodline carriers were dragged up in front of the man they had trusted to lead them, accused of war crimes and trying to disturb the peace of their village (though if Kirigakure was ever peaceful, Takeshi must have missed it) before being sentenced to death. When it was Takeshi's turn, the guards got impatient with him, and one had prodded him with a kunai, slicing open his arm. Seizing his chance to have a bit of petty revenge, Takeshi had promptly sprayed the front of the Mizukage's pristine white robes with blood.

He had received a blow to the head for that, but the Mizukage was not the person that did it. The leader had stared at his now crimson robes looking utterly transfixed, as if he could not pull his gaze away. But then his adviser had touched his arm and the leader had jerked up before proceeding to sentence him to be burned on a pyre with some other bloodline carriers.

The Mizukage's adviser.

Takeshi shuddered when he thought of him. The man had ebony black hair knotted at the back of his head, and he wore graceful ceremonial robes that outshone even the Mizukage's. But his eyes...they had been a vivid scarlet colour, and so cold, as if the man behind them had absoulotely no pity. Which, now that Takeshi thought about it, he probably didn't.

The boy was pulled from his thoughts as a pair of guards stomped down the hallway, talking loudly. Curious, Takeshi walked over to the door, careful not to actually touch it, as it was coated in chakra draining seals to prevent the bloodline carriers from using their skills to escape.

"-itch isn't talking."

"We haven't got much time left! Uchiha-sama said that she had to be executed!"

"We're building up a massive pyre that'll be ready in two weeks. Just chuck her on there with the rest of 'em."

"But we _need _that information. Our ninja are impressive now, but with those techniques, they will be invincible!"

"Well, she's not talking, and I don't think that she's about to. They've been working on her for over seven years, and she's not spoken a word about those techniques once."

"Well then, let's see if we can try persuading her now."

The footsteps of the guards faded away, and Takeshi stared after them. He had heard the cruelty in their voices and he knew beyond a shred of doubt that, even if he was going to be burned on a pyre, his fate would be infinitely kinder than the woman's who the guards had just spoken about.

* * *

Naruto frowned as he looked over the paper weapons that were floating through the air. Even with them, they couldn't cut through the seal-enhanced door, and that only opened when the guards wanted to take him out, either for training or for an operation. Though he had the former far more frequently, he was always accompanied by Guren, who he knew was far stronger than him, with the ability to create weapons that were just as tough as his paper ones. No, the only way to get out would be after an operation. He knew that he was normally left alone while the anethesia wore off, and sometimes he had managed to wake up before they came back. If he managed to do it again, then he could get a headstart.

The blonde was painfully aware that his plan was quite risky. When he was taken off for his next operation, Sayuri would seal everything of use in the room into the storage seals painted along her shoulders and arms, and make sure that they had left nothing they needed behind. When he had woken up, Naruto would press the red button that summoned all the guards before getting out of there and heading towards his old cell where he had collected a rather sizable amount of exploding clay, hidden under his bed. Once he had the clay, he would dash back to the cell he and Sayuri shared before using the clay to blast the door open. After that, he and Sayuri would head to the exit he had discovered, and run as fast as they could.

Of course, this plan was quite fragile and depended on a number of factors beyond Naruto's control. He would need to get away from the lab quickly enough that any guards that did run into him would assume that he hadn't called them. If he ran into any guards, he was also counting on the fact that he often walked through the corridors for exercise, and they would assume that he was doing it again, with some hidden people trailing him. He and Sayuri would have to run like hell after he had blasted the door open, as the sound would alert any guard that something was wrong, and they would also have to get as far away from Oto as they could once they escaped, while avoiding the ninja that would be sent after them.

All of that would be quite difficult, but he couldn't see any other way to do it. The main problem would be getting away from Oto - they would have to do it on foot, and they could never hope to outrun the ninja, even with his stamina, meaning that they would have to find a hiding-place...

Sighing, Naruto concentrated on the paper weapons, which all disintegrated before reforming into a paper dragon that flapped its wings, soaring through the air. Naruto smiled as he looked at it. It was very sturdy, but also very manoeuvrable, twisting and diving as it flew. If it were bigger, he was sure that someone could ride on it...

Naruto's eyes grew wide.

There was no where near enough paper in the room for him to test out his theory properly, but he reformed the dragon into a single leg, which proceeded to hop around the room, amusing Sayuri greatly. Naruto nodded, looking at it. It would be risky, but no less than his plan to try and get out of this place. But first, he would need to find a far larger store of paper.

He thought over this carefully, trying to remember if he had seen any large stores of paper anywhere. And then it hit him.

He told Sayuri, who gave this idea all the wonderment, awe and respect she believed it deserved.

"I don't think that's going to work, niisan."

Naruto glared at her. "Of course it will! It's genius!"

Sayuri looked unconvinced. "Right."

"It is!"

"If you say so, niisan, if you say so."

* * *

At last, the day of the final operation had come. Orochimaru had drunk one of Kabuto's concoctions, as he would be leaving the base after the operation was finished, and he was feeling much stronger than usual - well, stronger than his weakened state. The Sannin smirked as he picked up the last vial. All the other ones were gone, but he had no more need of them anyway. When he came back from this visit, he would be bringing the seal-master with him, and the Kyuubi would be extracted, and stored away for his own use. And then, he would take on his new, perfect body, and begin his conquest of Konoha.

There was a knock at the door before a guard came in, gripping Naruto's arm tightly. "I brought him, Orochimaru-sama."

"Good" Orochimaru smirked, looking at his new body with interest. Now nine years old, Naruto looked very different from the boy that had come into Oto three years previously. He had grown a lot taller, as Orochimaru had made sure that his new body was fed a healthy diet, while his hair had also grown, the spiky silvery-blonde strands sticking up all over the place. His eyes were no longer a cerulean blue, but a silvery-blue, with ripples and nine tomoe in them that almost made the Sannin salivate. They had also lost much of the childish innocence, and had a hard look in them. He also now moved with the grace that all shinobi eventually acquired, while the baby fat had been stripped away, giving him a lean look that Orochimaru felt would look good with his physique.

And of course, hidden under his shirt, was the seal, which was now permanently visible, rather than only appearing when Naruto moulded chakra. Orochimaru hoped that it wouldn't remain when the Kyuubi was extracted; it looked rather unsightly in his opinion, a mar in what was otherwise the perfect body.

Naruto didn't flinch when Orochimaru jabbed him with the needle containing the anaesthetic, just quietly slumped over. As Kabuto placed him on the table and Orochimaru began to prepare the sample, a gleam danced in the Sannin's eye.

_'Time to begin.'_

* * *

Sayuri sealed the last human puppet away into one of the seals painted on her arm with a sigh of relief. The room had been practically stripped bare, with only the table and the (empty) drawers remaining. She had had to be very careful, so that the guard outside the door didn't hear anything and decide to check, but she couldn't risk leaving anything behind for the snake to use for himself.

She looked across the room, and frowned. Mikoto was lying limp on the table, her button eyes seeming to look at Sayuri, asking why she wasn't being taken. Sayuri had decided to leave her behind - Naruto had told her that even if they did escape, it would probably be very tough for a while, and there would be no room for her doll.

But still...

Sayuri walked over and picked up the doll, her hard fingers unable to really feel the softness of the fabric, like she had done before she came here. The doll was nothing more than a reminder, a memento of what she had been. She really should leave it behind.

Quickly, she reached a hand under her top and undid the tiny catch that kept her stomach closed. The wall of waxy flesh swung open, and she quickly put Mikoto inside before shutting it.

Just to keep reminding her.

* * *

Naruto struggled up, having just awoken. The lab was silent, both Orochimaru and Kabuto gone. The Sannin was probably already well on his way to wherever he was going...

That thought jerked Naruto fully awake. Orochimaru was gone! He had to get going himself!

Quickly, he swung himself off the table, intending to grab his clothes, which were lying in the corner, someone having put him in a normal hospital gown. He reached out a hand to grab his mesh shirt, only to freeze, staring down at it in shock.

The hand had turned extremely pale, not Orochimaru-pale, but definitely far more white than Naruto's skin tone. But as Naruto looked down at the other hand, he saw that it was the same tone as it had been before he'd had the operation.

Slowly, Naruto turned around to look at the mirror. He gasped in horror.

His body had been separated into two halves, the tanned skin on the right, the pale on the left. The different tones did not merge at all, but went straight from one to the other. And as he opened his mouth, he could see that his teeth had turned rather pointy. Of all the changes so far, this was the worst of all. What had they made him into this time?

With an effort, he dragged himself away from the mirror and pulled on his clothes, trying not to look at his bi-coloured chest. He was on a tight schedule after all, and couldn't afford to waste a second. Once he was fully dressed, he darted over to the large button, pressed it, and then ran out of the lab as the alarm began to blare.

* * *

Jiraiya faced the area where he knew the hideout to be, a solemn look on his face. It had taken a great amount of effort to sneak this close without being interrupted, but he didn't need to be subtle anymore. His spies had told him that Orochimaru had left, and wouldn't be back for some time. That left him free to start searching, and he could also wreak havoc among Orochimaru's base as he did it.

Biting his thumb, he formed the handseals he had used so many times before. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

There was an explosion of smoke, which cleared away to reveal a giant green and brown toad carrying two large swords on its back.

Jiraiya jumped onto the toad's head, his eyes narrowed at Orochimaru's base. "Let's go, Gamahiro."

* * *

Sasori smirked from inside Hiruko as he looked at the base. Inside, hidden among the dozens of Orochimaru's followers, he had planted many skilled sleeper agents, though they were only a fraction of the total amount he had used to infiltrate Orochimaru's forces. And now, he would be reactivating them, setting them loose upon the unsuspecting Sannin.

Next to him, Deidara was imapatiently rolling clay between his hands. "Sasori-danna, are we going to attack, yeah?"

Hiruko nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

Naruto skidded around a corner, panting a little. He had run straight from the lab to here, and was growing sick of having to dodge whenever he heard someone coming. Luckily, it seemed that most if not all of the guards had gone to the lab, although it wouldn't take them long to figure out that it had been a trick.

However, he had managed to reach his old cell, which hadn't been filled since he moved out. Falling to his knees, Naruto reached under the bed, praying no one had looked there. To his relief, his clay was still there, and he scooped it up, his mouths snapping eagerly. Now he could go and get Sayuri-

Suddenly, Naruto heard footsteps, and he quickly rolled under the bed. As he watched, two guards walked by, their faces suspicious. One, a slim man with a scar running down one cheek, was speaking to the other.

"-dunno why it went off. Orochimaru-sama isn't even here, and he's the one that normally uses it. If it's one of the new recruits messing around again, there'll be hell to pay. I've had it with those fools playing around!"

The other guard nodded, before gasping and clutching at his head. Beneath the bed, Naruto frowned. Was he sick? If so, why hadn't he told anyone? If nothing else, Oto did have some decent medics, though he had heard some people say that they weren't as good as the Konoha ones.

Not that he'd know. No medic had ever agreed to see him.

The scarred guard leaned forward. "Hey, are you alright-"

He never finished his sentence. It's rather hard to do that when your throat's been sliced open.

Naruto stifled a gasp as the corpse fell to the floor, a look of surprise forever twisting its features. The other guard straightened up, twirling a blood kunai. "One down. Sasori-sama will be pleased."

Naruto gaped after him as he went down the corridor, not daring to move until he was sure that he was gone. There was very little trust in Oto, and backstabbing was rife. But there was always some purpose to it, some motive. But the guard had mercilessly slaughtered his comrade for seemingly no reason, and he had mentioned someone called Sasori. Naruto had never heard of him, and he was pretty sure that if he belonged to Oto, and was high enough to be called 'sama', he would have heard at least some mention of him. So, that meant the guard was probably working for someone outside of Oto. Which meant...

They had to get out right now.

The blonde scrambled out from under his bed, and dashed towards the room where he and Sayuri had been locked up. He had expected this to be a difficult part of this plan, as surely by now, the irate guards would be returning to their posts, realizing that an unauthorized person had set off the alarm. However, there seemed to be no guards returning to check on the prisoners. That was the good news.

The bad news was that he could hear screams in the air, and shinobi were racing past him, panicked expressions on their faces. Something else was going on, something much bigger than a false alarm, and he knew instinctively that he didn't want to get caught up in it.

After what felt like hours, but was probably minutes, he reached the door of the room, and banged on it. "Sayuri? Are you alright?"

There was a muffled reply. "Yes, niisan. What's going on?"

"I don't know, but stand back."

There was the sound of Sayuri scrambling back, and Naruto squeezed the clay in his hand, letting his mouths chew through some of it. Once he was satisfied, he lifted up his hands, and the small mouths spat out the clay, sending it flying forward into the door. He took a few steps back, and gave a mental command.

The door exploded into a shower of wooden fragments, the seals unable to defend against something that blew them apart completely. Naruto coughed, waving his hand to clear the dust cloud. Once it had dissipated, he lowered his arm to see Sayuri standing in front of him, looking scared. Her eyes widened when she saw his new appearance, but she didn't say anything about it, opting instead to ask her question again. "What's going on? What are those noises?"

Naruto grabbed her hand, the cold fingers sliding through his own. "I'll explain later, now come on!"

They ran down the corridor, Sayuri gripping his hand painfully tight. They managed to pass several people without incident, but then they turned a corner to find a man standing there, a katana in his hand. He smirked when he saw them, lifting his sword. But before he could bring it down, Naruto thrust his hand forward, concentrating on the metal. The sword was torn out of the man's grip, and he gave a howl of pain. It didn't last long, however, as Naruto jabbed upwards, stabbing the man in the throat.

He felt no regret as the corpse fell to the floor, but he was disturbed by the strange pleasure that coursed through him as blood gushed out of the wound. It was enjoyable, certainly, but it didn't feel as if it came from him, more as if someone else was feeling it through him.

Before he could ponder anymore on this, there was a loud booming noise, and the walls seemed to tremble around them. Naruto stared at them, terrified. They were underground, and if the walls collapsed around them...

Not wanting to think about it, he ran faster, dragging Sayuri along with him. The puppet-girl made no complaint, she wasn't any fonder of the idea about being buried alive than him.

Otogakure seemed to have descended into chaos. No one paid them any attention as they dashed through the labyrinth of stone walls; they were too busy worrying about themselves. Naruto could hear some of the more sensible shinobi trying to restore order, but unlike a proper ninja village, Oto had a very loose command structure, and it was difficult enough to get a large group of their shinobi to listen to you if you weren't Orochimaru or Kabuto when it was calm, never mind when they were panicking so much.

Naruto dragged Sayuri into a new corridor, only to pull up sharply. There was a mass of ninja packed tightly into it, leaving no way for anyone to sneak past them. Naruto almost despaired - there was no way he could fight that many and win - but then he realized that they weren't facing him, but were instead looking at the ceiling, from which several banging noises were coming from. Naruto and Sayuri stared at it curiously - only to recoil in shock when a giant webbed foot broke through it, crushing some of the shinobi underneath it while others were killed by the shrapnel. As the survivors struggled up out of the wreckage, a man with spiky white hair and very colourful clothes dropped through the hole made by the giant foot.

Naruto bolted, Sayuri following him as fast as she could. If that guy was invading, then they saw no reason to get mistaken as defending Oto - they just wanted to get out of the maze as quickly as possible.

Behind them, one of the remaining survivors looked at their retreating backs. Kin knew that Orochimaru's most prized experiment was probably running away, and that she really should tell someone. But after remembering what he had saved her from, she kept her mouth shut. Orochimaru would probably just recapture him anyway, so why should she begrudge one of the few people to be kind to her in this place a few sweet nights of freedom?

* * *

After a few wrong turns, they finally managed to find what they were looking for. The ornate door, made out of expensive wood with a silver handle shaped like a snake's head, was locked, but Sayuri's saw-like weapon easily cut through it, sending the remains crashing to the floor. The two stepped into the room, Sayuri looking impressed by it, while Naruto was less so - unlike her, he had been in Orochimaru's office before, and he just wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

Sayuri crossed over to the shelves filled with scrolls, and began pulling out their contents as fast as she could. Orochimaru had never bothered to put any security around them - after all, who would be stupid enough to try to steal from him? - and it was easy for the girl to start emptying them.

Naruto began to walk towards the shelves so that he could help, but suddenly paused. He had felt something tugging at his mind - a bit like his metal sensing ability, but far stronger, far deeper. Slowly, he turned his head to see what might be causing it, and gasped.

Lying within a glass case was the strangest and most beautiful dagger he had ever seen. It was coloured a deep purple colour, and rather than being smooth like most blades, it appeared to be scaled - not like a snake, more like a fish. The handle was fairly simple, but to Naruto, it seemed to be calling him, asking for him to pick it up.

"Niisan?"

Naruto looked over at Sayuri, who had emptied the bottom shelves and was working her way up, a growing pile of scrolls at her feet. "What are you doing?"

"Give me a minute" Naruto muttered, slamming his hand against the glass. Unfortunately, it seemed tougher than normal, and all his punch did was give him sore knuckles. Hissing in pain, he looked around, and he caught sight of an elegant blade hanging on the wall, which looked very sharp. It was also very beautiful, and most would have been happy to take it and leave the dagger, but Naruto felt inexplicably unable to ignore the purple blade.

He darted over and lifted the taller blade off the wall, before returning to the case and bringing it down on the glass. It shattered beneath the blow, glass crumbling over the floor, but Naruto paid no attention to the clear fragments. He leaned forward and gently picked up the dagger. It felt completely balanced in his hand, and his fingers wrapped around the handle as if they had been doing it all his life. The blonde hefted the blade, feeling awed by its beauty as it was lifted through the air. No wonder Orochimaru had kept it locked up!

"Niisan!"

Naruto turned to see Sayuri standing next to an empty set of shelves, a large pile of scrolls at her feet. "We need to go!"

Naruto nodded. "You can have this!" He tossed the bigger sword at her, Sayuri barely catching it. It was over half as big as her, and she looked a bit silly as she held it, but the puppet girl could recognize that this blade was something special - why else would Orochimaru keep it in his office? - and she stored it away in one of her seals. Naruto meanwhile used a black thread to tie the dagger to his waist, making sure that it was completely secure.

After checking that it wasn't going to slip out, Naruto approached the pile of scrolls, and began picking them up, infusing them each one with his chakra and leaving them to hover in the air around him. It was a slow process, and it took a lot of his chakra, but by the time he was done, dozens of no doubt rare and priceless scrolls were flying through the air at his command. Naruto grinned at Sayuri, who he could barely see through the swarm. "Let's go!"

* * *

At long last, the exit was in sight. It was a small door, the same colour as the stone around it, and if you didn't know it was there, you'd probably miss it. But Naruto was focusing completely on it, and he knew he would never mistake it for anything else apart from the last barrier between them and freedom.

Sayuri grabbed the rusty handle and turned it. To their surprise, it opened at once, no one ever seeing it as worth locking. Naruto would have shaken his head at the laziness of the guards, but the fresh air was too much to resist. The duo rushed up the flight of chipped stairs that had been behind the door, and seconds later, they had emerged into the night.

They were standing on grass that felt cool beneath Naruto's feet, while there were large clumps of trees growing about, their leaves rustling in the breeze. Naruto turned to look at the exit, and found that it was appeared to be just a hole in the ground. How strange that something that looked so simple could have granted him the escape from hell.

Sayuri meanwhile was spinning around and round, her long hair whipping around her face as she enjoyed the simple pleasure of being outside. Unlike Naruto, she hadn't even been given the chance to train outside, and this was the first time she had seen the outside world in years. All she could do was stand there, drinking in everything.

Naruto, remembering that they weren't out of the woods yet, concentrated on the scrolls fluttering around him. They began to fold and press together, scrolls that Orochimaru had spent years collecting becoming just another piece in Naruto's work. About seven minutes and a heck of a lot of chakra later, it was finished.

A white dragon, about the size of a rhino, was standing in front of them, flexing its wings with a rustle of paper. Despite being made completely out of such a fragile material, the dragon looked quite sturdy, and Naruto turned to Sayuri. "Hop on."

She reluctantly left her activity of looking up at the stars, and climbed onto the dragon. Despite being quite small, Sayuri was filled with metal and wood, which made her rather heavy, but the dragon seemed to be holding up quite well. Naruto was about to climb upon it himself when a voice rang out.

"Well, well, well...a chance to use my art, yeah!"

Naruto whirled around. Standing a few feet behind him was a tall figure, dressed in a black cloak with red clouds embroidered on it, and a straw hat that hid most of their face apart from a lock of blonde hair and a sharp blue eye. Naruto stiffened as he looked at him; this guy's chakra was very high, and the way he moved, added to the fact that he hadn't sensed him at all made it clear that whoever this was, he was very dangerous.

"Who are you?"

Deidara smirked at the kid who was glaring at him defiantly, though it was obvious that he was scared. Well, he should be - he had no chance against an S-class ninja. He was a bit puzzled by the dragon-like creature that the little girl was sitting on - it seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember where.

Well, it didn't matter - soon, both of the kids and the weird object would be transformed into true art, and he could get back to Sasori. He knew that the puppet master had been looking for something, but he couldn't find it; which hopefully meant that they would be leaving soon. Art was a blast, after all, and just hanging back while Sasori's spies did all the work didn't suit his style, though he had enjoyed being able to drop some of his art onto the snake's base.

Naruto meanwhile could tell that this ninja was well beyond his level. He didn't know what he could do, and he didn't want to find out - at any moment, order could be restored in the base, and they would start looking for him. He couldn't afford to waste any time fighting. What he needed was a distraction.

His hands slipped into his pockets, closing around the rest of the clay. He doubted that it would be enough to kill the ninja, but hopefully it would be enough to get away. He could only pray that his luck, which had seen them get out of the building of Oto, would let them escape it completely now. His decision made, the mouths began to rapidly chew through the clay, and he pulled his hands from his pockets. The ninja, who had been reaching for a pouch on his hip, froze, his eyes wide. "That's-"

The mouths spat out the clay, the white blobs landing on the ground between Naruto and the ninja. Naruto quickly vaulted onto the back of the paper dragon in front of Sayuri, and urged it up into the sky. The creature flapped its wings, rising quickly, but Naruto couldn't help but add some more chakra to it, despite the fact that he was running quite low. The extra chakra gave the dragon a boost, and it shot up, Sayuri quickly wrapping her arms around his waist and shutting her eyes, determined to not look down.

The clay exploded beneath them, but the dragon had just managed to get out its range. Naruto didn't look down to see whether it had killed the ninja or not, all his concentration had to be on guiding the dragon - keeping it flying was their only hope of getting away.

* * *

Naruto had no idea where they were, and so he set off in a random direction. The dragon soared through the sky, each beat of its wings reminding Sayuri to focus on something else rather than the fact that she was riding on a creature made out of _paper _hundreds of feet above the ground. Naruto, however, was enjoying it immensely. The air was cold, but fresh, cooling him down after the stuffiness of Oto, and he had never felt as free as he did flying. He would have loved to stay up there forever, just swooping through the sky with a breeze ruffling his hair and the view of hundreds of acres of land passing by underneath them.

But as they left the land behind and began to fly over a large body of water, Naruto suddenly became keenly aware of how much chakra he had used. He felt exhausted, his hand was aching from where he had hit the glass, and he was beginning to get a headache. Not a good combination for someone trying to keep a paper creature flying through the air through energy and willpower.

Slowly but surely, they began to lose momentum, each beat of the dragon's wings bring it closer to the water. Sayuri realized that if it fell, they were going to fall into the water, which would be very bad for her - not only could she not swim, meaning that she would sink to the bottom, but water would rot away her wooden body while rusting the metal pieces. That was not a fate she wanted.

"Please, niisan! Keep it flying!"

Naruto shook himself, concentrating as hard as he could. There was a thin brown strip in the distance that looked like it was land. If he could just reach it...

His chakra began to rapidly ebb away as he poured more into the dragon to make it fly faster. Through eyes that were struggling to keep open, he saw a shoreline, with a few boats tied up. But it was late, and there was no one in them. No one to help them...

At last, he lost the battle, and the dragon plummeted down towards the water. Naruto gritted his teeth, focusing every ounce of willpower he possessed. _'Please, let this work...'_

Apparently, whatever deity that had got him landed with Orochimaru in the first place was feeling very guilty, as he just managed to get the dragon hovering above the shore before it collapsed completely.

Paper swirled as Sayuri and Naruto dropped, crashing into the ground that was thankfully only a few meters below. Naruto had landed awkwardly, but he didn't get up. He was so tired, too tired to care what happened next, to tired to register the footsteps approaching and the gasp as the owner of said footsteps got close enough.

A figure leaned over him, but his vision was too tired to make out anything, even the the person's chakra. Slowly, his eyes fluttered shut as words danced around his ears.

"-an you hear me? Kid, are you alrigh-"

His eyes closed, and at last, Naruto slipped into unconsciousness.

**So, Naruto has finally escaped - but can he stay that way? Where is he? And who is the person that found him? Find out in the next chapter! **

**Notes on manga: So, Sakura seems to turn away from Sasuke after all, but her lack of a plan when it comes to killing him has me questioning her motives for actually going near him in the first place. And if it turns out that Kishimoto turned the leader of Akatsuki good just so that he could sacrifice his life to bring back, among many, a man who has to be alive purely so that Sasuke can kill him and thus take his place as a mini-Orochimaru, I am going to just give up on canon Naruto and stick purely to fanfic.**


	6. Chapter 6

****************

Perfection

**I don't own Naruto.**

_The mobile spun above the crib, the toys bathed in the pale rays of sunlight filtering through the dusty window. The dangling creations, a myriad of black stitches and bright colours, were clumsily made by hand, but obviously lovingly created, wide grins splayed out in thick thread. Beneath them, a toddler gurgled, sapphire-coloured eyes blinking up guilelessly at the toys as tiny fists waved around in the air._

_The door opened with a creak, and a woman stepped inside the room, her crimson hair glinting in the light that winked in and out of working order. Her face was hidden behind the polished ivory mask of a seal, a trident, the points wickedly sharp, was slung across her back, and she moved with an eerie grace, the kind that only came from years of stalking prey in the shadows. But the toddler grinned toothily when he saw her, arms waving around in the air. "Ka'an! Ka'an!"_

_A gentle laugh, like a soft breeze through a graveyard, came from behind the woman's mask as she lifted the small boy from the crib, slender fingers wrapping around fragile digits. "Naru-chan! How's my handsome little boy?"_

_The baby blinked up at her, and she stroked its golden locks, her hand trembling slightly. "Now, I need you to be a big boy for Ka-chan. I have to go away for a bit-"_

_The baby's cheerful grin faltered, almost as if he understood what was about to happen. The woman rocked him softly, shaking her head. "I know you don't like it, Naru-chan, but I just can't say no...those silly old men don't seem to understand parenthood. But I'll be back. I promise."_

_The toddler didn't seem comforted by these words; instead, it squirmed in her grasp, a plaintive wailing rising from its throat. The woman hummed a lullaby, but it didn't soothe the child; indeed, the crying grew louder. Sighing, the woman gently laid the baby back down into the crib and brushed her hand against his cheek. "Be a good boy for your minder, ne?"_

_A shadow fell across the room, and the woman turned around. Standing in the doorway, casting a dark silhouette against the dim amber glow of the flickering light, was another masked shinobi. But this one was drastically different from the room. The mask was blank, just a pair of small holes against a smooth white oval, a plain tanto was strapped to their back, and their stance was too stiff, as if they had been petrified for a long time and had only just been freed. "Uzumaki-san. It is time."_

_The woman nodded, and followed the other shinobi out, shutting the door behind her with a quiet click. Her footsteps faded down the hall, until there was nothing but the baby's wailing to disturb the heavy silence of the air, crying out for a mother that he knew would not be coming back._

* * *

Naruto shot up, his eyes wide. _'What - what was that? A dream?'_

He didn't know. He had been asleep while he experienced it, he was certain of that - after all, he was lying down in a bed. But it had been extraordinarily vivid with every detail, from the creak of the mobile to the soft touch of the woman's hand, etched into his mind. He had never had a dream like that-

Wait a minute.

He was lying down in a bed?

Naruto looked down, a frown twisting his face. It was an actual bed, not just the flat, hard bunks of Oto. He could feel a soft mattress beneath him, and there was a proper quilt, with a pale blue sheet and a white floral pattern. To most people, it would have been rather simple, but to Naruto, it was a luxury he had never fully enjoyed. But he couldn't just sit around. He had to find out what had happened.

Carefully, he got out of bed, wincing a little at the weakness he felt. It would be several days before he had fully recovered - it had taken some chakra to heal him on top of everything else, and it wouldn't be for a while until he could fix up another paper dragon.

He looked around, his eyes taking in the walls painted in soft colours, the polished wooden floor, the clock ticking away on the wall. He sniffed the air, and wrinkled his noise. There was a strong, spicy smell in the air, one that was vaguely familiar. Could it be a type of poison? Had he been captured by ninja?

Quickly, Naruto looked down at himself, relieved to see that he had been left in his clothes, the stitches hidden under his sleeves, the dagger still tied to his hip. An enemy would hardly be likely to leave him with a dagger, or even risk him wearing shinobi clothing, in case he had concealed weapons among them. But that relief soon faded into wariness. Where was he?

_-Running_

_-Explosions_

_-Paper_

_-Wooden fingers clenched around his own_

_-Red clouds_

_-Flying through the air_

_-Falling_

Naruto felt elation well up within him. They had done it! For better or for worse (though he couldn't think of anything that could be worse than being the vessel of Orochimaru) they had escaped the den of the snake. He and Sayuri were free!

Speaking of Sayuri, where was she?

Naruto's smile disappeared as he looked around. He could see no sign of the tiny puppet, could feel no hint of her chakra or of the mass of metal inside her body. He felt a twist of fear in his stomach, remembering how they had landed. Had Sayuri been dashed to pieces against the ground? Was she rotting away in the water? Had her heart been pierced by a rock? Was-

He heard the omnious creak of footsteps, and whirled around to face the door, despite the wave of dizziness that overcame him as he did so. He knew of no weapons that could kill him, and he had been given enough basic training to hold his own long enough to escape as long as the ninja wasn't too powerful. No matter what foe was behind that door, he wasn't going to give in to them-

"Ah, you're finally up, dearie!"

Naruto blinked. Standing in the doorway was an old woman, wearing a peach-coloured shirt, a dark apron and a pair of blue trousers. She had neat white hair under a soft yellow cap, and her face, though wrinkled and half-hidden behind a pair of enormous glasses, looked kind and friendly. However, it was not her face that held Naruto's attention - it was the bowl she held, filled to the brim with a steaming dark liquid from which wafted that same spicy smell.

The woman walked towards him, holding out the bowl. "You had a nasty fall, dearie. Why, when Karashi found you, he thought you were dead!"

Naruto was very confused, but his wariness was beginning to slip away. He could sense no metal on the woman, and her movements were too slow, too rough for even the most elderly of kunoichi, suggesting that she was just a civilian. But Naruto hadn't lived as long as he had by trusting civilians, and he shifted slightly, preparing to spring at her if necessary.

"Who are you?"

The woman paused, smacking her forehead with a frail hand. "Oh, silly me! I'm always forgetting important things. I'm Sansho, chef and owner of the Curry of Life shop!"

She beamed at him, apparently expecting him to react to this. Naruto didn't have a clue what the Curry of Life was, but he knew that he wasn't at his full strength, and he needed to be careful. So he smiled back, trying to look impressed.

Sansho seemed happy about this, and set the bowl down on the table next to him. Naruto gave it a wary look - he might be unable to die, but he didn't like the thought of being poisoned.

"I was just hanging the washing up last night when Karashi called me out and told me he'd found you on the ground! I wasn't sure, and I said to him, 'Karashi, you stop with that silly story', but he told me it was true, so I came out, and you and your sister were lying smack dab on the ground!"

Naruto felt a surge of relief. "Sayuri's okay?"

The old woman nodded, and flapped her hands. "But enough of me talking. We haven't had guests in such a long time, I'm forgetting everything. Now, you eat up and then you'll be able to have a shower while I finish the curry for your sister."

Naruto nodded cautiously, reaching for the spoon. It smelt quite good, and he was very hungry after all. Scooping up some, he lifted the spoon to his mouth, as Sanso smiled at him. "I'd be careful, dearie, it's a mite-"

"YEEAAAWWWWWWGHHHHHH!"

"-hot."

* * *

Jiraiya stared bitterly at the ruins of Orochimaru's base, the entrance now filled in by a tree that had crashed down when its roots were blasted at. On one hand, this was a great victory for Konoha. Much of Orochimaru's most important work had been in there, along with many of his shinobi. Less than half of them had managed to escape before the main tunnels collapsed, dooming the rest of their comrades to a horrible death, as the sheer weight of the earth was simply to heavy to shift aside, even using jutsus, and none of those that had got out had thought to take any of the Sannin's work with them. This was a major setback for Orochimaru.

But the same went for Jiraiya. He hadn't been able to get to Naruto, hadn't even seen him. An hours' searching had brought him no sign of the boy, and those he questioned had spluttered in terror that they hadn't seen him either. One had managed to direct him to Naruto's room, but he found it utterly empty of both people and objects apart from a large wooden workbench. What it was used for, he didn't know, but it was clear that something had been made upon it recently - he had missed Naruto by minutes at the most.

However, even though he had failed to find Naruto, he had discovered something very interesting. A man wearing a black cloak with red clouds, the signature of Akatsuki, the organization Orochimaru had joined after his defection, had dropped some explosive material on the base - and he seemed to be trying to cause as much destruction as possible. Did this mean that the rumours of Orochimaru leaving the organization were true?

"Jiraiya-sama?"

The Toad Sage turned around, a perverted smile already rising onto his face. "Natsumi-chan! It's so good to see you-"

The kunoichi glared at him, clearly furious with him for not warning her of the base's destruction. Her face, normally caked in make-up, was streaked in grime, her silk kimono in shimmering tatters, and her dark hair was straggling from its elegant style. Jiraiya winced. Sneaking one of his agents in as the mistress of the base's commander had been very rewarding, but also very expensive, and Natsumi would probably expect extra pay for any danger she had had to undergo on top of the risk of being discovered.

"I can't stay long, Jiraiya-sama. Kaede-" her face twisted in distaste at the mention of the man she had seduced on his orders "did not survive the collapse, and I have no wish to be passed onto one of his comrades. After this meeting, I am leaving for Konoha."

Jiraiya nodded, unsurprised. It would be too much to expect for her to stick around - Oto was a filthy place that made his skin crawl, and he hated the idea of sticking around any longer than he had to, never mind living in this place. But Naruto had, had done so for three years, and he needed to make sure that the boy didn't go back there again. "Did you get it?"

Natsumi nodded, reaching inside the folds of her kimono. To Jiraiya's disappointment, he barely caught a glimpse of her milky flesh before she withdrew a bulky file - just where had she been hiding that? - and tied the ragged clothing back together. "This is all I managed to salvage. I hope that it's enough."

Jiraiya nodded distractedly, flipping open the file, barely noticing as Natsumi slipped away. His eyes scanned over blocks of medical text that meant nothing to him, until his skilled eyes began to pick out other, more disturbing information.

_-First experiment performed when subject was 6 years, 5 months..._

_-Has adapted well to Jashinist jutsu, shows signs of enjoying the pain it brings..._

_-Shows aversion to using sharingan, signs that use of the dojutsu further weakens his seal..._

_-Subject suffers from monthly lapses, signs of youkai chakra filtering through his system..._

Jiraiya's gaze slid to the bottom of the page, where a small picture had been stapled in. It had clearly been taken while Naruto was unconscious, the child's head lolling to one side. But it was enough for him to see the silvery hair, the large stitches, the mouths in his upturned palms. But even that wasn't what held his attention. A surgically-gloved hand was also in the picture, lifting one of Naruto's eyelids, exposing rippled eyes that were shockingly familiar to him.

_'Orochimaru...What have you **done**?'_

* * *

Takeshi was scared.

He didn't want to admit it to anyone, not even himself. Kiri shinobi were tough, everyone knew that. Tougher than the softies in Konoha who thought it was horrific when genin had to kill, never mind students in the academy, tougher than Iwa, who blamed all their problems on a man with a silly nickname, tougher than Kumo, who had no decent bloodlines of their own and had to resort to stealing others - though Kiri wouldn't be able to claim that soon - tougher even than Suna, who, while pretty tough, didn't impose brutal training methods to the extent than Kiri did.

Takeshi wasn't quite a Kiri shinobi - he'd been a class away from graduating when the purges started - but the training to be one had been hammered into him from the age of five. Kiri shinobi were loyal to their country. Kiri shinobi laughed at torture. Kiri shinobi did not fear death, not at all.

But Takeshi did.

He couldn't help it. The bravado and cockiness that had been there when Takeshi arrived at the prison was slowly being chipped away as the day of his execution got closer. He flinched every time a guard walked by the cells, he trembled with fear as each sunrise brought the burning closer, and his dreams were filled with greedy flames licking at his flesh. He didn't care what his teachers and relatives had said, he was scared of dying; scared of the pain, scared of the fact that he would never grow up, never be a shinobi, never get a girlfriend, never master his bloodline, the thing that had got him into this mess in the first place. His training about emotional control was useless against the fact that he was ten years old, and he was going to die.

Footsteps echoed, and Takeshi raised his head, peering through the gloom to see who was coming. An incredulous glare spread across his face. "What are_you _doing here?"

The Mizukage didn't react at all to his bitter words, walking silently past his cell. Takeshi stared after him hatefully, wishing that he had some shuriken to fling through the bars. True, they probably would not have even hit the man, never mind cause him any damage, but it was the thought that counted.

If he had been less focused on his anger, he might have wondered why the Mizukage didn't have his adviser stalking besides him, or why the pale-haired man had such a desperate look in his eye, almost as if he was trying to get away from something that was relentlessly stalking him, waiting for the right moment to strike.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE'S GONE?"

The guard, who was doing an odd mix of a kneel and a bow that had his forehead pressed against the tiles, repeated what he had said in a voice quivering with fear while his partner stood by the door, looking at him with pity. "O-Orochim-maru-sama, your b-base was attacked three days ago, by t-two different sources - Jiraiya, and two men w-wearing black cloaks with r-red clouds. Everything was destroyed, and when we c-counted the survivors, your new v-vessel wasn't among them."

Orochimaru's howl of rage echoed around the building as the guard was reduced to a bloody smear across the ground. Never in his life had Orochimaru ever been as angry as he was now. A raw, powerful fury had him in its grip, almost blinding him with its intensity, and he did not know if he would ever calm down, or even if he could.

Fuming, the Sannin turned to the window, staring out at the flat planes of Kusagakure. His main base, the centre of Oto's activity, had been destroyed - and it had taken countless scientific experiments with it, along with priceless data that Orochimaru did not think he'd be able to recover, including the human puppetry. Unlike Sasori, or maybe even Naruto, he was not a natural at the craft, and every human puppet he helped with, he'd had to glance at the Kazekage or the painstakingly drawn up diagrams of his body. He couldn't recreate it with no data at all, and he could already hear the sounds of his plans for Guren and Kimmimaro crashing to the ground.

But that was not the worst of it. Nor was the loss of Kusanagi and Naruto's sword, though both were a significant kick in the gut for Orochimaru. No, the thing that he was seething over was the loss of Naruto himself.

Three years he'd spent on that boy. Three years of painstakingly implanting abilities that he had no chance of replicating now - all the samples had been used up on Naruto. Three years of making sure that Naruto was strong, but not too strong. Three years of enjoying the notion of being able to crush Akatsuki with their own abilities. Three years of knowing that he was close - so close - to being the perfect being.

But now that had all been snatched away from him. Naruto was probably far away by now, if the Oto shinobi who had seen a paper dragon flying through the air was any indication. But where could he have gone?

It was perfectly possible that Jiraiya had caught up to him, in which case he would either be back in Konoha, or holed up in his old teammate's many hiding-places, the locations of which he had never managed to learn. However, he could also have been caught by Akatsuki - and that was the worse thing that could happen. He should have foreseen Sasori attacking in revenge for his precious puppet, but the group had been so qiet that they'd begun to slip to the back of his mind. Well, that wouldn't be happening again.

But that wasn't important right now. Naruto was obviously far away. Too far away to be found and retrieved in time for Orochimaru's transfer - unfortunately, that applied to Guren as well. He'd just have to make do with one of the other shinobi downstairs. There was a kunoichi with an interesting bloodline that allowed her to dislocate her joints and control her body with chakra, something that he'd implanted in one of Kabuto's friends already. She was nothing compared to Naruto, but she would do for now.

But if Naruto thought he was giving up, he was sorely mistaken. Orochimaru turned away from the window, a cold gleam in his eye, and gestured at the other guard. "Send word to all of my agents, and summon the Sound Four. I have some prey for them."

* * *

Naruto stared around the room with curiosity. It seemed to be some type of restaurant, with a kitchen behind a counter, and several long tables fitted together. It was nearly empty, apart from a few old men sitting in the corner, and one other person that made their presence known as soon as he stepped through the door.

"NIISAN!"

Naruto barely had time to sense the oncoming barrage of metal and wood before Sayuri smacked into him, throwing her arms around him in what was probably meant to be a hug rather than an attempt to batter him to death. "You're awake! I _told _them you'd wake up, but Karashi said you wouldn't, because you had a really bad conuxion-"

"Concussion" said a voice behind them. "And I didn't say that he wouldn't wake up, only that it might not be for a while."

Naruto turned around to see a boy with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and nervous brown eyes. He smiled at Naruto hesitantly, although whether it was from natural shyness or Naruto's appearance, the younger boy didn't know. "I'm Karashi."

Naruto nodded at him. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Sansho bustled into the room, clapping her hands when she saw them. "It's good to see you three getting along so well! Karashi doesn't have many friends, you see, and-"

"Ka-san!" Karashi protested. "I do too!"

Sansho nodded, though she didn't look very convinced. "Well, at least you can play with Naru-chan and Sayuri-chan until they're ready to go!"

_Naru-chan?_

Sayuri snickered quietly, and Naruto shot her a look telling her to shut up or else. The puppet obeyed, but her glassy eyes were still filled with mirth, and Naruto had no doubt that she'd remember it for a very long time.

Karashi scowled. "I'm fine, Ka-san! I don't need to play with anyone!"

With that, he stalked out the door, and Sansho sighed. "The poor boy...He gets so lonely, you know, ever since his father died. And those nasty village boys keep picking on him...But you can play with him, can't you?"

Naruto felt awkward. He had not interacted with anyone his own age apart from Sayuri for three years, unless you counted fighting with whatever test subjects Orochimaru wished to throw at him, and he didn't know what to say to this. However, he needed time to recuperate long enough to build another paper dragon, and if it would keep the old woman happy, then he supposed he could put up with it, just for a while.

* * *

Yagura pulled his cloak closer to him as he walked through the prison, wishing that he could have worn his thick Mizukage robes. But anyone could have recognized him in that outfit and, even though it was not against any rule for the leader of Kirigakure to visit some condemned captives, it would be rather unusual, and in this loose political climate, where Yagura was unsure of whether he could trust anyone, curiosity about his habits was the last thing he wanted.

He wasn't even sure why he was coming here anyway. The occupant of the cell he was visiting had been in there for six years, and despite numerous versions of torture, had never spoken of the jutsus that Kirigakure would kill for. Tomorrow, she would be taken out with the other prisoners, and burned alive with them, sating the bloodlust of Kirigakure's mob, and showing to any spies why you did not mess with the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Yagura shuddered a little when he thought of the festival that would take place the next day. Every person in this prison had been declared an enemy of Kiri, and their deaths were considered worthy of celebration. There would be stalls, food, dancing, music - the kind of celebration that were very rare in Kiri. When he was small, Yagura had been to one once, when he was five, and he'd often hoped that it would come again. But not like this.

_'The clans were everything. They ran our main buisinesses, they worked in the hospitals, they knew our trade routes, they made up a great deal of our forces. What will happen to us when they're all gone?'_

He had tried to raise that point before, but his adviser had always hushed him, always explaining in that patronizing tone of voice how it was the clans that had caused so much trouble, so much war, how life would be so much better for Kiri when they were gone. And Yagura had shrunk down, not daring to speak out. The adviser had been there since the days of the Sandaime Mizukage - he had wondered if the two were related, as they both seemed to possess a glacial stare that made his skin crawl - while he was simply a ninja that had got to his position because of the power bestowed onto him by his bijuu - and he knew that even now, few respected him. He had far less power than most would think, and all he could do was play along with the mob.

Finally, his destination came into sight. There no guards around the cell - he'd made sure to give them the hour off, so that he could have more time - and the prisoner sat alone, illuminated in a thin shaft of moonlight.

Uzumaki Kushina had changed from the kunoichi that it had taken three members of the Seven Swordsmen to capture. Her muscles had degenerated, courtesy of being locked in a cell for eight years, her skin was shocking pale under the dirt, she had lost a lot of weight, and her hair, the silky red locks that had flowed down her back, was now matted with dirt, hanging to her knees.

Despite that, she was still a beautiful woman, and he knew that only the seal on her shoulder, probably created by her husband had prevented the guards from going too far with their torture (he had certainly never experienced it for himself, but he heard that it had caused agonizing pain to the private regions of anyone who tried to take her by force, an experience that was repeated every time the offender tried to have intercourse again, even if it was consensual. A vicious attack, worthy of the fierce kunoichi that refused to bend.

He knew that she had had a child. Rumour had it that it had even been the baby that the Kyuubi had been sealed in - if Konoha thought that anyone had been fooled by the story that the Hokage had slain the beast with a jutsu that no one knew of, then they were truly deserved their 'gone soft' reputation - which was shocking, considering that the guards had often reported her weeping over him, which was certainly not common for the family of a jinchuuriki - they tended to shun the host, trying to pretend they didn't exist.

He would know.

Kushina raised her head as he drew closer, her dark eyes narrowed. "What do...you want, Mizukage?" Her voice was raspy from misuse, but it still held a steel edge to it.

Yagura shrugged, looking down at her curiously. "Nothing, really. I merely wished to know if you had changed your mind about the jutsus."

Kushina gave a harsh laugh, which echoed around the dank walls. "I was...taught those jutsus from a...bond of trust. I refuse to break...that bond."

Yagura raised an eyebrow, leaning against the bars. "You're sure about that? From what I heard, the man you made that bond with is dead." He wasn't trying to open any wound, he was honestly curious. Anyone from Kiri would be selling out every secret they knew in half the time she had been in here, and yet the proud kunoichi was holding firm, despite the fact that she would be dead in the morning.

Kushina shook her head weakly. "I...never give up on anything, especially my friends and their trust. And I...won't betray it."

Yagura nodded. He'd been expecting that much. However, he still had a few questions he wanted answered. "The Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Who is he?"

She stiffened, for the briefest moment. Then she looked up at him coolly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Yagura had to give her credit; if he hadn't grown up with a bijuu inside him that he'd spent over two decades trying to control, he might have believed that the Yondaime had actually killed the beast. But he had seen the power of the Sanbi, he had felt its chakra, its rage, and he knew that nothing could ever completely snuff out something like that. So, how could the Yondaime, who was facing a creature that was three times as powerful, have come up with a jutsu to destroy it in the three days Konoha had before the Kyuubi reached them?

"You do." He frowned, tilting his head. "Was it your child?"

Kushina's eyes narrowed, her fingers digging gouges into the crumbling stone floor. "There was no jinchuuriki."

Yagura sighed. It seemed that she wasn't going to talk about it. Never the less, her body language had told him much. Strange, how one woman could be so entangled with the demon vessels - he knew full well that the other jinchuuriki of Kiri had been coming here, probably to seek some comfort from someone who wouldn't care about the beast he held. He hadn't had the heart to forbid him to come again, despite the disapproving mutters of Kiri's council - well, the new one. Most of the members of the old one had been murdered in the purges.

"It's a shame, that a kunoichi like you is going to end up dying tomorrow."

Kushina looked at him coldly. "If you feel that way, then you shouldn't have ordered my capture. I was never, _ever _going to break."

Yagura looked at her in surprise. "Me? Order your capture? I wasn't even the Mizukage when it happened."

Kushina blinked, looking confused. "Then who di-"

Yagura heard the soft, threatening thud of footsteps. Frowning, he turned around to see who it was. Behind him, Kushina gasped. "You-"

* * *

Aiko frowned, bending down to peer more closely at the seal traced out onto the thin, nearly translucent paper. Her eyesight was going, the old woman knew that, but she was far too stubborn to wear glasses. She wasn't a kunoichi anymore, hadn't been in active service in over twenty years, but she still disliked anything that might be perceived as a weakness to be exploited on the battlefield. Better to have poor eyesight and rely on your other senses than have a flimsy frame on your face that could be punched in, sending glass shards into your eyes.

After assuring herself that she had not made any mistakes, Aiko straightened up, wincing at the deep pain in her back. The slim candle perched on the corner of her desk flickered, sending the shadows dancing around the bookcases filled with scrolls, the seals painted on the wall, the slender senbon needles pinning back her grey hair, the ancient katana hung upon the wall. She might be retired, but the lifestyle of a shinobi was difficult to shake off, and while she couldn't use her taijutsu like she used to do, Aiko had always been more into genjutsu and fuinjutsu, neither of which required much of the stamina she had lost over the years.

Ironically, it wasn't really until she had retired and so could devoute herself more fully to the latter that her skills really grew. Why, when she was thirty, she could never have achieved what she had been able to do nine years previously - if you could call it an achievement to be proud of. And she certainly wasn't.

Sighing, the old woman shuffled out of her study, closing the heavy door behind her. Her cane - she joked about it concealing a weapon of some sorts, but whether that was true or not was anyone's guess - tapped against the smooth floorboards as she made her way to the kitchen. To her annoyance, the small table was bare, with none of the cutlery, nor the patterned tablecloth set out. They were having a guest over, and she had asked her granddaughter to take care of setting the table while she dealt with the cooking.

"Kiyoshi! Kiyoshi! Where are you?"

There was no answer, and Aiko sighed, before gripping her cane, and making her way to the front door. She unlocked it, and pushed it open, grimacing at the squeak of the hinges. At once, she was hit by a wave of bright sunlight, and she screwed up her eyes. _'Kami, is my house that dark?'_

Blinking as her eyes adjusted, Aiko carefully hobbled down the rickety stairs to her porch, and looked around. It was late midday, and most of the other villagers were working on something or other. However, one of her neighbours, Rishou, who was just a few years younger than her, was dozing on his own porch, a pipe hanging loosely outside of his mouth.

Aiko cupped a hand around her mouth. "Rishou!"

He cracked an eye open, looking at her sleepily. "Aiko-chan? What is it?"

Rolling her eyes at the suffix that he had always referred her as, even when he was nothing more than a small boy playing around with the older children, Aiko nodded at her house. "Have you seen Kiyoshi anywhere?"

Rishou's cheerful grin faltered for the briefest of moments at the mention of her granddaughter. But then the expression was wiped away, and he nodded. "Think I saw her heading towards the woods."

Aiko nodded. The lightly forested area near the back of the village was used by a training-ground by many, as it was big enough for them to get some privacy while training, but small enough for someone in trouble to be heard. She should have known that Kiyoshi would have gone there - after all, it was the only place apart from the house that she wouldn't be bothered.

Slowly, she made her way through the village, enjoying the sunshine. A few people called out greetings when they saw her, while the rest at least managed to nod respectfully. After all, no matter who her granddaughter was, they still remembered her as the woman who had helped save the village, despite the painfully high personal cost.

Aiko sighed, looking around. The village's name of Haigaragakure would not make any sense to an outsider. It was a small, clean village, with bright colours, children playing in the streets, civilians mingling comfortably among the shinobi, and plenty of fauna and flora. But to anyone who had lived there nine years ago, it would be painfully obvious.

Kinugakure was never going to be a major village. Founded by a small shinobi family, its main income had come from their jutsus, the ability to weave silk out of pure air, or some other such nonsense. Aiko had never been interested in that sort of thing - from a long line of shinobi herself, she had always been a fighter, not the type of ninja who would make money out of what their jutsu could produce (unless you counted the missions she took.) No, when she had arrived as a toddler with the rest of her family, it had not been to make a great name for their clan, it had merely been to settle down, and finally get some stability in their lives. And for fifty-three years, she had had it.

She had married, to another shinobi, and had had two children by him. One of those children, the youngest, Kiyoshi, had been killed on a mission when she was fourteen, caught in a cloud of poison blown by a Kusa chunin. Aiko had grieved, and even now, she carried a sense of loss over it, but losing the people you love is a constant in the life of a shinobi, and she had eventually moved on. Five years later, her husband had followed their daughter, but again, she had managed to get past that. She still had had one child left - her son, Daisuke, and she focused her attention on him.

Daisuke wasn't like her. Oh, they had similar features - blonde hair, though hers was already greying, green eyes, and pale skin - but he had inherited his father's brashness and determination. He would never have the patient for crafting complex skills, never understand the skills of genjutsu, he was a man of flashy ninjutsu, using loud, and sometimes crude jutsu to get his way. Brash and determined wasn't too bad a combination, but when added to the growing resentment of the younger generation, it had posed a problem. A problem which Aiko had failed to see.

She and the other older, wiser shinobi had seen and accepted that they wouldn't be accepted as a great power for years, if ever, and they knew it would be best to work with what they had. But Daisuke and his friends refused to see that. They looked at the power of the five major villages hungrily, they moaned about not being able to call their leader 'kage', and whenever someone from one of those villages they envied so entered Kinu, they would crowd around them, trying to learn all they could, as if knowing that Iwa shinobi saluted the memorial of their war dead before each mission would somehow make their own shinobi become just as great.

And then, fatefully, Daisuke had met a shinobi from Suna, who had proudly told him of how their first Kazekage had battled the Ichibi and won, not only winning glory for himself, but also securing a powerful weapon for the village that could be called upon at any moment (she had a feeling that that shinobi hadn't been high-ranking; any ninja worth their salt would know that it didn't do to spread _any _information about your village's weapons, even if they were well-known). And that had ignited a fire within Daisuke's brain, a fire that could not be quenched by anything other than the fulfilment of his new goal: to acquire a bijuu for Kinu itself.

Her poor, foolish son had no idea about the tailed beasts, no knowledge of just what he was seeking. If he had come to her, perhaps things would have been different. Most seal-users had at least some knowledge of the creatures, and she was no exception. Her sensei had taught her about the nine demons that roamed the land, each one filled with malice and greed, a dark desire to destroy everything they found. And then, of course, was their chakra - a poisonous energy that was the most powerful form of chakra in the land.

To seal one was considered to be the highest task a seal-user could ever aspire to fulfill, but it was not something that any of her colleagues had wanted to use. After all, they had all known the cost of sealing away a being of such power. The person sealing the beast would have stand there, finishing the jutsu as a sacrifice had their life sucked out of them - rumour had it that someone had been able to create a seal that took their own life instead, but that would be ridiculously complicated at best, and it seemed a bit strange to make a seal to take your own life. It was certainly not something for the weak-hearted.

But Daisuke had known nothing about that. He only saw an avenue to power, a short-cut to making their village great. And so he had searched for a tailed beast with his friends, taking trips outside of the village to find one. Aiko had known that he was looking for something, but not what for - she had assumed he was looking for a wife, as none of the village girls interested him. And indeed, he did bring back a woman - Harumi, a dark-eyed, green-haired kunoichi from Getsugakure. Aiko had found her to be a pleasant, cheerful woman, and they got on well, Aiko telling Harumi stories of her youth, while the younger woman would sigh over how she and Daisuke had met.

Harumi never mentioned that he had come to question her father about seals, seals strong enough to imprison a tailed beast. Because Harumi was in love, and she was foolish too, sure that Daisuke would never do anything to put anyone in danger.

Two months later, Harumi became pregnant with Daisuke's child, and there had been much joy in the household. The medic had declared the child to be a healthy girl, and Daisuke had kissed Harumi, before turning to Aiko.

_"We'll call her Kiyoshi, shall we, Harumi-chan? After Kiyoshi-nee-chan?"_

Aiko was a bit shocked when Kiyoshi was born - her skin was pale, far more so than Daisuke or Harumi's, her eyes were a pale blue, and her wispy locks of hair were a pure white. The medic had explained to them that she was an albino, listing the risks of sunburn, the poor eyesight, things that could be a problem for a shinobi. But Daisuke had passionately declared that it didn't matter, that he knew his little girl would be the greatest kunoichi from the village, and Aiko had been so proud of him, not knowing that in a matter of days, he would change their lives forever.

Daisuke finally discovered the location of an unsealed bijuu - the Gobi no Hokou, the five-tailed demon dog, which was slumbering deep within a forest. Daisuke had brought along someone who fancied himself as a fuinjutsu-expert, and the most skilled of his friends, expecting that to be enough - after all, the Shodai Kazekage had faced the Ichibi on his own, and had emerged, if not without a scratch, quite well from the encounter. Unfortunately, Daisuke had overlooked a few things: firstly, that the Kazekage had been an S-class ninja, and secondly that he had only been facing the Ichibi. The Houkou was five times as powerful, and it had a few more tricks up its sleeve than the Ichibi's control over sand.

The bijuu had sensed Daisuke's party approaching, and it had attacked before they even knew they had gotten close to it. The fuinjutsu-user was snapped up instantly, followed by three more of Daisuke's friends. The rest had fled, running back to the village, and the Houkou had followed them, determined that its prey would not get away.

Aiko would never forget the sight of the Houkou, even if she lived to the age of a thousand. It had stood at over a hundred feet tall, with thick white fur and violet eyes that paralysed everyone who met its gaze in fear. Its claws were like ivory scythes, its fangs crunched through stone and metal like butter, and its killing intent had forced Aiko to her knees with its intensity. Behind it had streamed five tails, one capped with flickering crimson flame, one that shimmered with water, one with a miniature hurricane swirling around it, one that was dusted with dirt and entangled with vines, and one that had crackling white-blue lightning slithering through the snowy fur.

It had used those tails too. Fireballs had rained down from the sky, accompied by deadly bolts of lightning that never missed their mark and, once struck, spread their own flames, the ground had cracked open and the plants had become deadly enemies, crushing and strangling all who came near, while waves had crashed against the village walls, tearing them apart like a child pushing over a tower of wooden blocks.

And then, if that wasn't enough, there were its genjutsu abilities. Aiko had thought of herself as a reasonably proficient genjutsu-user, but her illusions were nothing compared to the Houkou's. Impossible to escape from, often impossible to even detect until it was too late, able to make time bend to the Houkou's whim once the victim was trapped, and each one filled with horrific visions that were liable to make the victim go mad even if they survived it - which Harumi and so many others did not -, the Houkou's illusions were living proof of why genjutsu could be so deadly. Armed with the elements, its genjutsu, and of course, its huge, equipped-with-sharp-weapons body, the creature had seemed utterly unstoppable.

But it wasn't.

When Daisuke had stumbled back through the gates, it had taken a while to understand what he had done, he was so terrified of his pursuer that he could barely speak in coherent sentences. But once they knew, the village had sprang into action, evacuating all the civilians, while the shinobi searched for an answer, knowing they could never halt it with their ninjutsu alone, while Daisuke huddled in a corner, weeping as he was cursed again and again by everyone, even Aiko, who knew that the village was doomed, because of her son's arrogance, knew that she had to atone for his sins. And so, she had picked up his baby from the side of her mother's corpse, whispered _'forgive me' _in her ear, before facing the villagers and telling them that she knew a way to stop it.

It wasn't that hard to design a seal, surprisingly. A bijuu seal is just another storage seal, after all, just a bit more complex and powerful. Oh, it wasn't perfect, they didn't have time to make it so, but it would hold the Houkou back, and that was enough. Kiyoshi had giggled when Aiko had painted the seal over her heart, probably thinking that her grandmother was just tickling her. But she had started crying when they had brought her out in front of the Houkou, who had paused for the briefest of moments, clearly wondering what they were going to try against it now.

Aiko had got to work quickly, her ink-stained fingers bending and twisting in hand-signs, summoning the power that could bind the beast to her granddaughter forever. She didn't even glance at the human sacrifice, though she easily recognized the blonde hair, shut off his screams even as the tears trickled down her cheeks. It made sense that the villagers would force her son to give his life for the village he had so recklessly endangered, made sense that she, the most proficient of them all in fuinjutsu, would be asked to perform the sealing, but she hated them for it, hated them for punishing the whole family, as if Kiyoshi wasn't enough. And then, when it was all over, she had picked up the baby, and glared at them all, daring them to say anything about it.

No one had. They feared the demon, and they feared the child that contained it, but Aiko was considered a hero for stopping it, and she made it clear that she would tolerate no attacks on her granddaughter. And so the village merely ignored Kiyoshi, never acknowledging her, but never attacking her either, making her life far better than most jinchuurikis. But even with the Houkou gone, there was the problems it had left behind.

Kinugakure had been torn apart - a total of six buildings had been left standing, and of those six, only two were judged as stable. Two-thirds of the village's shiniobi had been killed, as well as many civilians, among them quite a few members of the founding clan. Daisuke's foolish plan had doomed his ambition. Kinugakure would never ever completely rise out of the ashes left by the Houkou's attack, and a few of the shinobi had bitterly nicknamed it 'Haigagakure', a name which had stuck ever since.

That had been nine years ago, and the Houkou had never been seen since. Oh, the seal would allow Kiyoshi to draw upon the beast's chakra, but she had forbidden her from ever attempting it. Aiko had heard stories about the jinchuuriki who had lost control of their bijuu, and she had no wish for her granddaughter to go through the experience.

But though the Hokou was hidden, it was far from completely gone. Aiko had told every frightened villager who asked that, of course, there was no chance of the beast escaping, and they had believed her, but there were times when she wasn't sure of it herself. The Houkou wasn't gone in Kiyoshi's head, there it was a very real entity, a poisonous voice that lurked in the darker corners of her mind. When the jinchuuriki was younger, Aiko had often come into her room at night to see her twisting around in her bed, her sharp nails digging gouges in the mattress as she dreamed of the Houkou ravaging the village, of the countless people it had killed, whimpering as the bloody visions danced across her dreams.

And then there was the genjutsu.

Haigagakure had no ninja school, relying on the families of any would-be shinobi to provide their training, something that Aiko had been happy to do with Kiyoshi. She'd started the girl on training when she was six, and Kiyoshi had done quite well, all things considering. Like the rest of the women in her family line, Kiyoshi was small and skinny, despite all attempts to build her up, and so her taijutsu was nothing to write home about. Her chakra had not been enhanced by the Houkou's, Aiko had made sure of that. If done right, such a thing could boost one's reserves greatly, but the risk of chakra poisoning was too great, so Aiko had not included that within the seal, meaning that Kiyoshi, like most kunoichi, did not have particularly large reserves. But she enjoyed learning fuinjutsu, which Aiko had been all too happy to teach her, though that was far from her strongest point.

Kiyoshi had not received power over the five elements like the Houkou - Aiko had tested her when she was seven, and found out that she was an ordinary earth-type, to Aiko's secret relief. But with the control over earth came the control over plants - presumably if she'd been any other element, she'd have inherited the skills that Houkou had displayed with them as well. Not only that, but, Kiyoshi had inherited the most feared of the Houkou's abilities - its genjutsu skills. Three days after learning it, she had mastered the henge, by the time she was eight, she had learned every genjutsu Aiko knew, and had then slowly advanced into making her own, though that was slow going - making original jutsus was tricky, and she was very young after all.

Never the less, Aiko had often praised her for it, though she was a bit annoyed that her granddaughter would often neglect her taijutsu and ninjutsu in favour of genjutsu and fuinjutsu. After all, the time could come where those two arts wouldn't be enough, and she knew that then Kiyoshi would have to use the Houkou - and that was something she never wanted to happen, not ever.

Shaking her head, Aiko saw a line of trees up ahead, signalling the beginning of the forest. Dead leaves crunched under her feet as she went further in, ducking below the spindly branches that threatened to snag her hair. The forest was filled with chakra signatures, as well as the thudding sound of kunai and shuriken hitting wood. She passed quite a few ninja wrestling in the dirt, one of whom was kind enough to point out where Kiyoshi was. After about five minutes of hobbling through the trees, she found her.

Kiyoshi was sitting cross-legged on the ground of a small clearing peppered with kunai. She'd clearly been aiming for a specific tree, but only a few seemed to have hit it, and she'd clearly gotten bored with practicing. Instead, she was staring intently at a small beetle crawling across the floor, her eyes narrowed.

Aiko snorted, knowing full well that Kiyoshi already knew she was there. The girl's eyesight might be poor, but her sense of smell was as sharp as any dog's. "Kiyoshi, I've told you before. Insects are not affected by genjutsu. Trying to get it to look you in the eyes will not change that."

Kiyoshi raised her head, blinking at her grandmother. "Obaa-chan?"

Aiko smiled wryly. "I suppose you can explain why you are trying to catch a bug in a genjutus instead of setting the table like I told you to."

Kiyoshi shifted, her eyes flickering to the kunai scattered over the clearing. "You told me to practice."

Aiko reached down, and tugged at the handle of one of the kunai sunk into the earth. It came away with a satisfying squelching noise, and she straightened up, shaking the dirt off. "Yes, but I didn't mean for you to do it while you were meant to be doing your chores. Besides, it's not your genjutsu you need to work on. Your aim," - she gestured at the numerous kunai that had missed the tree - "leaves a lot to be desired."

Kiyoshi scowled, standing up. "It's not my fault I can't hit it-"

"True" Aiko remarked, letting the kunai fall back down. "But that is why we practice. Now, come on. We need to hurry back."

Kiyoshi shrugged, and kicked the rock that the beetle had been crawling on. It flipped over, possibly crushing the insect. Aiko rolled her eyes, and turned it over, revealing the unharmed bug which scuttled away, relieved. "There's no need to sulk, Kiyoshi-chan. He'll be gone soon."

Kiyoshi nodded, though she didn't look very happy. Out of an entire village, only having your grandmother show any positive emotion to you was not good for the psychology of a child, and Aiko was beginning to get worried about the small signs of a developing sociopath in her granddaughter, which were no doubt spurred on by the Houkou. They were only small, and she was pretty sure that it was nothing serious - yet. The last thing a village needed was a child with a superiority complex that was able to unleash a bijuu.

Gaara sneezed, feeling rather confused. He had never got sick before. Oh well - he had to get going. Ka-chan would not get blood on her own, after all.

Perhaps she ought to look into finding her some friends who didn't know about the beast?

Well, that could be seen to later. For now, she had to focus on getting home before her guest arrived.

* * *

Naruto frowned as he surveyed the 'landing sight.' Scrolls were scattered around the area, and there was a small dent in the ground where the dragon had hit the earth. For the first time, he fully appreciated how lucky they had been. He seemed immune to many forms of death, but there were equally many methods that hadn't been tested on him. Poison, for one - or a broken neck. If they had hit the ground at the wrong angle...

Shuddering, he returned his attention to the scrolls that littered the area. Gathering them all would be a pain, but there was no other choice. He needed a large supply of paper to work his jutsu, and besides, he didn't like the thought of any of Orochimaru's scrolls in the wrong hands - specifically in the Sannin's.

Next to him, Sayuri looked at him enquiringly. "What are we going to do, nii-san?"

Naruto shrugged. "Get to work picking up the scrolls. After that...we'll have to see."

The puppet nodded, and raised her hand, chakra strings stretching from the tips of her fingers as she began plucking scrolls from the harder-to-reach-places (he had no idea how that scroll had managed to get lodged within the roots of that tree), while Naruto got to work manually, picking up scrolls with his bare hands as he pondered Sayuri's question.

To be honest, he hadn't really given a thought as to what would happen when he got out of Otogakure - merely escaping was extremely dangerous and required lots of planning, so he'd focused all his attention on that. But now that they had escaped, he found himself wondering over what would happen now.

He couldn't see himself as a civilian. He had been pretty self-sufficient back in Konoha, having no one else to depend on but himself, but he'd still missed quite a things that other children took for granted, and he didn't think he'd be able to function as an adult in an ordinary job, nor did he think Sayuri would be able to. That left being ninja - but there were a few problems with that as well.

In Oto, they had not been trying to make him into a ninja. They had been trying to make his body ready for Orochimaru, not give him enough training to escape. Because of that, he had been taught kenjutsu and taijutsu, but not any ninjutsu or genjutsu, apart from the small jutsu he had managed to copy from Ami, leaving him woefully equipped for life as a ninja. After all, you'd have to devote yourself to the point of obsession to taijutsu to even make it past the genin exam without ninjutsu-

Back in Konoha, racing around his one-hundred-and-fifteenth lap, Rock Lee sneezed.

Oh, sure, he knew the puppet technique, but you still needed a bit more than that to become a good ninja. Besides, it was more suited to Sayuri's style - Naruto preferred tackling his enemies head-on, not standing back and directing a wooden doll to do it for him. So, first he would need to actually pick up some formal ninja training - but where could he get that from?

He discounted Konoha immediately. The village had treated him worse than a rabid dog, tossing him to Orochimaru without a second thought. If he went back there, he had no doubt that the same fate would befall him again, and he had no intention of being the snake's new body. So, that left the other villages - but he doubted that he'd be able to find someone just willing to train them. No, he'd have to work hard, probably using scraps picked up from other ninja, but he would do it. He had never been one to back down from a challenge, and to him, that was all his training was going to be.

However...

Naruto examined the pile of scrolls at his feet. There wasn't any specific order to them - Sayuri had simply grabbed what she could to supply paper for his jutsu. However, these scrolls were from Orochimaru's personal library. There hadn't been any half-rate jutsus there, no sir - only the best for the Snake Sannin's collection.

And now they were Naruto's.

"Sayuri-chan?"

The puppet turned to look at him questioningly, and Naruto held up a scroll, grinning madly. "I think that you might want to start learning how to read properly - fast."

* * *

The boat-owner squinted at him, his rhemy eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why'd ya want to leave so late at night?"

Takeshi smiled uncertainly. "Um...I'm meeting someone?"

The old man shifted, his foot tapping the moisture-rotted planks under his feet, and Takeshi briefly had an amusing vision of it breaking beneath him, sending him crashing down into the choppy waters of Kiri. However, the more rational side of him hoped that he wouldn't - the old man was his only chance of getting out of Kiri alive. He had used a henge, one of the jutsu taught by the Kiri academy, to turn his blue hair brown, and give him a slightly darker skin tone, but he didn't have much faith in it as protection against the hunter-nins, that even now were scouring Kirigakure for any escaped prisoners. It was only because they were busy finding others that they hadn't come after him yet. But he knew they would search for him eventually, and he had to get out of the country before that.

The boat-owner spat, a gobbet of black saliva splattering against the wooden walkway, before scrutinizing Takeshi, who tried to look like a perfectly ordinary, perfectly respectable teenager with absolutely no kekkei genkai at all. Apparently it worked, as the old man gestured at the boat. "Climb in, then. But if you cause the slightest bit of trouble, I'll tip you over the side. Got it?"

Not particularly worried about the threat - one of the first jutsus taught to academy students in Kiri was one that allowed them to breathe underwater for a short period of time - Takeshi nodded eagerly, walking after the old man. The boat wobbled precariously as he clambered inside it, and for a moment, Takeshi almost regretted his decision.

Almost being the key word.

FLASHBACK:

_Takeshi rolled onto his back, wishing that his kekkei genkai could have been to produce mattresses - he'd have given anything to be back in his old bed, with a warm quilt and a mother that always gave him hot chocolate before bedtime._

_Not that he'd had a bedtime of course, because Kiri shinobi were manly and tough, and they didn't listen to their mother about getting to bed at nine **exactly**, unless, of course, they minded about being grounded._

_Sighing, the ten-year-old closed his eyes. This was the last time he'd get to sleep, after all. Slowly, he began to drift off, and a faint voice inside his head hoped that he'd be able to have that dream again - the one where he was an awesome shinobi, and his family were congratulating him with large smiles on their faces, not the frozen look of horror on their faces that had shown when the bloodline-hunters had found them-_

_**BOOM.**_

_Takeshi sat bolt-upright, his eyes wide. No...that couldn't be...it was some kind of trick..._

_But it wasn't, though. The chakra draining seals on the door were flashing through an array of colours; crimson, dark green, sky blue, muddy brown. As Takeshi watched in disbelief, the glow faded - bringing the seals with them._

_At once, the horrible feeling of having his chakra constantly sucked away vanished, leaving Takeshi feeling dizzy and disoriented. He could actually feel his chakra settling back down into his body, giving him strength. He still felt dead on his feet, but he knew that he had at least a small amount of chakra at his disposal - enough to use some jutsu and get the hell out of here!_

_Hang on a minute._

_That was precisely why the chakra draining seals had been placed in the prison - to prevent the prisoners, most of them shinobi, from escaping by using their jutsu. Each guard and visitor had to wear a counter seal, to prevent their own chakra being sucked away as well. As it took a small amount of chakra to power each seal, a small amount that turned into a big amount when you considered just how many seals there were, the ninja with the largest source of chakra in the country was given the task of coming to the prison every once in a while to add his own chakra to the seals and keep them running - the Mizukage. Because of that, they were tied to the man's life. So if they were failing..._

_There were only two options. Either the Mizukage had had an epiphany, and decided to release all the prisoners out of the kindness of his heart._

_Psht. And Iwa would admit that it was their own fault that three quarters of their shinobi got wiped out by the Yellow Flash._

_So just left the other option..._

_Takeshi drew in a deep breath as the other prisoners, their own seals malfunctioning, realized what was going on._

_"The Mizukage is dead!"_

_A ragged cheer rose up out of the cells, and Takeshi cheered with them, relief and satisfaction at the Mizukage's deserved fate overpowering his puzzlement at the fact that he had just seen the man walk past his cell, and he had looked perfectly healthy then._

_A muffled boom rang out as the prisoners, their chakra partially restored to them, began to work at getting out of their cells. Takeshi heard a whistling noise, and quickly rolled away from the front of his cell, shielding his face with his arms._

_His door shattered, debris flying through the air that Takeshi barely dodged. When the dust cleared, he saw the prisoner in the cell opposite him smile sheepishly - clearly the man had overpowered whatever jutsu he had used to get out of his own cell._

_Takeshi didn't care about that - he could hear the panicked footsteps of the guards, and knew that he had to get out as quickly as possible._

_Darting through the corridors, the boy searched for an exit, frantically trying to remember where he'd been brought in. After a few minutes of aimlessly searching, he found a small room with a desk and a few filing cabinets - the warden's office. Takeshi's eyes lit up as he spotted a small doorway, beyond which he could see a corridor that ended with the exit. 'Freedom, here I come!'_

_Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him._

_"-blasted woman..."_

_There was no time to head out the door. Instead, Takeshi dived under the desk, curling up so that his gangly frame could fit into the narrow space. It was uncomfortable, but he had no choice - from the sounds of it, about two people had entered the room, and they definitely weren't prisoners._

_The voice, which he recognized as belonging to the guard that had thrown him into his cell, continued. "We tried to track them, Uchiha-sama, but her jutsu..."_

_There was a cold chuckle, and the hairs on the back of Takeshi's neck stood up on end. It wasn't just the ominous way the chuckle seemed to echo around the room, or the fact that it was accompanied by the guard's own nervous laughter, indicating that he was scared of who he was with as well. No, it was the icy humour in the laughter, as if whoever it came from had no mercy or kindness whatsoever._

_"It matters not. If she thinks she can escape me, she is very much mistaken. That woman has something I need...and I will not rest until it is mine."_

_Takeshi frowned. Which woman? What did she have that was so important to whoever was speaking in that silky, poisonous voice?_

_"O-of course, Uchiha-s-sama. But what of the Sanbi?"_

_"Sadly, my jutsu went a little wrong. The beast escaped me."_

_"B-but then, what will you do now, Uchiha-sama?"_

_The sound of footsteps came closer, and Takeshi pressed himself against the wood of the desk. 'Please don't let them find me...'_

_"I shall return to Amegakure. Pein needs...a little guidance. And, of course, there is the matter of the Kyuubi..."_

_"Haven't you found it yet?"_

_"No. The brat seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. But, no matter. I am sure Zetsu will be more than sufficent to track him down, after he finds his own jinchuuriki."_

_Takeshi frowned, running these unfamiliar words through his mind. Jinchuuriki...Sanbi...Kyuubi...what were they talking about?_

_"But for now, I want you to find that wretched woman. For too long, I let Yagura handle things. I was hoping that the threat of death would bring her around...but those Uzumakis are stubborn to the last. Now, I must depart - but find her. Quickly."_

_Takeshi waited until both were gone before scrambling out from under the desk and fleeing as fast as he could out of the prison. The alarms were already blaring, and he knew that he had to get away, before he got dragged back to prison - and worse._

_END FLASHBACK:_

Takeshi leaned back against the side of the boat, Kirigakure slowly disappearing into the mist it was famed for behind him. He was feeling very tired, and he wanted to sleep, but first, he silently offered up a prayer for whoever that man was after. He didn't know what he wanted, but there was one thing he knew for sure: he wouldn't want to be in her shoes when he caught her.

* * *

Naruto finished scanning the text, his eyes wide. When he was in Konoha, he'd had to fight for every scrap of knowledge he came by. Few were willing to teach him, and those that did only performed the task with minimum effort, forcing him to struggle through every jutsu until he got it right. In Oto, he had been taught nothing at all apart from taijutsu, puppetry, and kenjutsu, so that he couldn't escape Orochimaru's clutches/ His arsenal was tiny, pathetically so, and he had no doubt that, ninjutsu-wise at least, he was behind his peers in his old academy class.

However, sitting before him was a wealth of knowledge. There wasn't just ninjutsu here, oh no. Naruto had only read through a few of them so far, but he could tell that there was a wide variety - ninjutsu, genjutsu, fuinjutsu, information about different the different countries, details of kekkei genkai and how Orochimaru had successfully transplanted them, the more exotic kinds of chakra nature, even a bit about the bijuu.

Naruto had been particularly interested in the latter. He knew so little about what had been sealed inside him, apart from the fact that it was a fox with nine-tails, and had been so powerful that nothing but sealing it away would stop it. But the scrolls about the bijuu had given him a more detailed description of the Kyuubi, and had also given him an indication about what to expect from it.

The Kyuubi had first appeared, as far as the writer could tell, over three hundred years previously, when it had attacked the castle of a band of mercenaries. After slaughtering everything in the vicinity, it had vanished, only to keep popping up through history, attacking places where human malice festered. As with the other bijuu, people had been interested in its power, and had sought to control it. But out of all those people, only two had ever been able to do that, and both of them were from Konoha: The first Hokage and a man called Uchiha Madara.

According to the scroll, the first Hokage had controlled the Kyuubi by using his Mokuton, a kekkei genkai that allowed him to control trees, while the Uchiha had used his sharingan. What growing trees and copying jutsus had anything to do with controlling tailed beasts, Naruto had no idea, but it certainly was useful information. He was a bit disappointed by the Kyuubi's power, though. Unlike the Ichibi, which apparently could control sand, or the Nekomata with power over the dead, or the Houkou with its illusions, the Kyuubi was more of a tsunami of chakra - it simply crushed everything in its path, with everyone else being no threat to it whatsoever.

However, now that he thought about it, that was probably where his enormous store of chakra had come from - and the bijuu was probably healing him too, unwilling to die with him. Well, that was _something..._

But despite the amount of knowledge the scrolls held, there was one small problem with them.

These jutsus were all advanced. Orochimaru was hardly going to keep E-rank techniques in his personal library, after all. No, any jutsus in there were A-rank at the lowest. Henge, Kawarimi, Kakuremino, Nawanuke, bunshin - all the basic jutsu that a ninja was meant to know, but Naruto didn't. And he certainly wouldn't find them within these scrolls.

It was like baking, in a way. While others would be able to start off with simple buns and then work their way upwards, Naruto was going to have to dive straight into the six-tiered wedding cake. And he knew that, as even the lowest ninja was expected to know the basic E-rank techniques, he had to as well. But where could he learn them from?

A logical way would be to visit one of the villages, find a way to listen in on their lessons, and find out how to do those jutsus. But he'd have to find out a timetable of when they'd be taught, and he'd have to make sure he wasn't found out...

Or, he could simply buy a scroll of techniques. They had to sell them somewhere...

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have any money, and had not thought to steal any from Orochimaru, quite careless of him, he admitted to himself. So, he'd have to find a way to earn - or steal - some money as well.

Damn. Who would have thought that freedom would be this complicated?

Sighing, the boy stood up, stretching his arms above his head. He was currently sitting in the room Sansho had given him, the scrolls piled up to the ceiling next to his bed. Naruto had already decided that he and Sayuri would be leaving in the morning - indeed, the only reason he was staying the night was because it was raining outside, and he doubted that that would react well with his paper.

Deciding to see where Sayuri was, Naruto headed downstairs. However, before he could look for the puppet, he was accosted by Sansho, who was looking worried.

"Ah! Naru-chan! Do you think you could go out and find Karashi? I'm getting so worried about him!"

Naruto nodded, deciding that he didn't have anything better to do, and walked out the door, glancing up at the grey clouds. The rain was only pattering down lightly, but soon it would get worse. He needed to find Karashi soon. Where had the older boy gone, anyway?

He walked around the side of the house, and saw what appeared to be a small barn, the doors open to reveal a few rusty pots stacked around a large beam. Karashi was standing in the doorway, two other boys about the same age as him surrounding him, sneers on their faces as they shoved him around.

"Aw, is the baby gonna start crying for his mother? Are you going to tell on us, Karashi?"

Karashi stumbled back, shaking his head. "L-leave me alone!"

Naruto frowned as he surveyed the scene. Karashi seemed to be just as physically strong as the other two, yet he was allowing himself to be pushed around by them. Naruto could have taken them out easily - hell, Sayuri could have knocked them out by clobbering them over the head! And when you considered that Naruto had stood up against Orochimaru, the gap between their skills being far, far wider than the gap between Karashi's and the other boys...It sickened him that someone could allow himself to give up that easily.

He stepped forward, and the boys turned to look at him, the strangers' eyes widening when they took in his appearance. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

The older of the boys smirked, though he still looked a bit unsure. "Teaching this little runt to respect his superiors. Go away, if you don't want to to get the same treatment!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. He'd faced Guren, Kabuto, a multitude of cursed seal victims, and Orochimaru himself. Did these boys really think that they frightened him?

Apparently so.

Well, in that case, he'd be happy to show them just how much he feared them. Thrusting out his hand, he felt with his mind for any metal in the area. Ah, there it was...each boy was wearing a belt, with nice little buckles on them. Naruto sent out a mental command for the metal to come to him, and it did, the buckles ripping themselves, and the belts, away. At once, the boys' pants fell down, collapsing around their feet.

Naruto smiled sardonically at the angry and humiliated boys. "I can do a lot worse than that. Wanna see?"

They shook their heads quickly, holding up their pants with one hand as they scrambled away. Naruto shook his head in disgust. They were scared of him. Because he had made their buckles come off. Really, he hoped that they didn't plan on becoming ninja - any of the shinobi he knew would quite easily scare them to death with their tricks.

Karashi stared between Naruto and the retreating backs of the boys with a look of shock on his face. "T-thank-you-"

Naruto stared at him. "Why didn't you push them back? They weren't any bigger than you!"

Karashi stepped back. "I - I couldn't! There were two of them!"

"So, you couldn't have just stood up to them?"

Karashi glared at him. "I'd have liked to see you do any better!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, and Karashi seemed to remember that he _had _done better. The older boy rapidly backpedalled. "You don't understand what it's like! I bet you've never had people like them being mean to you!"

Naruto stared at him in disgust. "People like them? I had a whole village-full! They weren't interested in being nice to me, but I didn't let myself get pushed around by them! And I didn't even have a mother like you - I had to do it on my own!"

Karashi opened and shut his mouth, before scurrying off back to the house. Naruto rolled his eyes, before glancing at the sky, now pelting rain down heavily, and deciding to go back inside himself. They would be leaving in the morning after all, and he didn't want to catch a cold.

Karashi was very quiet when Naruto came back in, and didn't speak to him at all. But when Naruto left the room, he saw the older boy's eyes following him curiously, as if trying to figure out a puzzle that was missing most of the pieces.

* * *

It didn't take long for Aiko's guest to arrive. Kiyoshi had just finished setting the table when there came a loud knock at the door. Aiko quickly stood up, and hobbled over to the door, lifting the latch as she peered through. Her face broke into a smile. "Mamoru-sensei!"

The door swung open to reveal a tiny old man, dressed in the dusty clothes of a frequent traveller, with a large bag slung across his back. He beamed when he saw her, and spoke in a low, crackly voice. "Ah! Aiko-chan! How's my favourite student been doing?"

Aiko hugged him, glad to see the person that her parents had hired to teach her fuinjutsu when she was a little girl. Mamoru was a retired ninja from Takigakure, but he still occasionally visited his old student to see how she was getting on. It was a bit odd, him visiting her now - normally, he came later in the year - but she was glad to see him.

They enjoyed dinner, swapping stories of what they'd been up to since they'd last seen each other, and reminiscing about the time when they had been master and student, and Aiko was unable to create an exploding tag without it blowing up in her face.

Kiyoshi, who was leaning against her grandmother, was very quiet, and as the night wore on, her eyelids gradually lowered, until she was fast asleep. Aiko chuckled when she saw this, gently putting an arm around the girl to support her. "It's getting late, Mamoru."

The old man nodded, and Aiko frowned to see a serious look on his face. "I need to be going, Aiko-chan, but there is something I need to talk to you about first."

Aiko looked at him, puzzled. "What is it?"

Mamoru bowed his head. "There is an organization, comprised of missing-nins. I do not know their identities, or even which village they originally came from, but I do know that they seem to be a rather dangerous bunch. And what they're interested in is the bijuu. I wouldn't know about them, except an old friend, whom I hadn't seen for many years, visited me recently. He had been approached by a member of this group, who wanted information about the type of seals used in creating jinchuuriki - specifically, how to break them."

Aiko gasped, her arms tightening around the sleeping Kiyoshi, as if trying to shield her. After the Houkou had been sealed, she had looked for a way to get it out of her granddaughter, hoping to spare her from the fate of a jinchuuriki. But she soon learned that that was impossible. Once the jinchuuriki was bound to a demon, that was it - the only way to separate them was by killing the jinchuuriki.

"Why do they want to know that?" she asked, her voice quavering. "Which jinchuuriki did they want it for?"

Mamoru raised his head, looking at her directly in the eye. "I do not know. However, I have heard rumours of men dressed in similar outfits, in most of the major villages. So, it is possible...that they are not after just one jinchuuriki...but all of them."

Aiko's eyes flashed, and Mamoru began to sweat as a wave of killing intent washed over the room, making Kiyoshi whimper in her sleep. "No one is going to touch _my _granddaughter."

Mamoru held up his hands, trying to pacify her. "It could just be rumours, Aiko-chan...but if you see anyone wearing a cloak with red clouds, keep Kiyoshi hidden."

Aiko slumped back into her chair. "And if you're wrong? If they come for her? Would she have to use the Houkou to escape, if I helped her?" She hated the thought of Kiyoshi using the demon for anything, but if she was genuinely in danger...

Mamoru looked at her sombrely. "The Houkou? Aiko-chan, if the rumours _are _true, and they do come for her, there's only one thing Kiyoshi could do to prevent being taken away."

"What?" Aiko asked flatly.

"Run like hell."

* * *

A scream split the air, and Kabuto winced, grinding up a herb to be used in a particularly potent poison. Orochimaru had been most...put out when he found out that Naruto had escaped, and he was taking it out on his subordinates. If Kabuto was in the same room, then no doubt he'd be a target as well.

It was just as well that he was leaving, on another project for Orochimaru. The man was always seeking new avenues of power, and he had recently become intrigued by a small village, that was said to have harnessed the power of a fallen star. If they could take that power, and replicate it for their own shinobi, the possibilities were endless.

For this end, Kabuto had been assigned his own laboratory, one that would be situated close by Hoshigakure, as the village was called. Though the star would be their main project, those given charge of laboratories were allowed to conduct their own little experiments, and there was one that Kabuto was particularly interested in.

Kekkei genkai transfers were common in Oto, and a common source of frustration for those who had to keep on finding new test subjects, as so few of them lived through it. However, Kabuto was sure that he'd be able to find a few - the two particularly bloodlines he wanted to reproduce were very special, after all. Even Orochimaru had wanted them.

It was very easy to get a sample off Kimmimaro - the boy was now comatose, only a large array of machines keeping his illness from completely taking him over, and as his medic, Kabuto had practically unrestricted access to him. Guren was more difficult. She disliked him, and trusted him far less than she could throw him. In the end, Kabuto had been forced to pretend that Orochimaru wanted her to be medically examined, in case she had developed a kekkei genkai illness like Kimmimaro, and the woman had practically jumped onto the medical table. Now, he had two samples, one of the Shikotsumyaku, and one of the Shōton. And with them, a world of opportunities.

* * *

Sansho was sad to see the two children who had arrived not two nights before go. The little girl had been quite charming, if a bit adverse to letting Sansho take her clothes for washing, while the boy had definitely done something to Karashi - those nasty bullies hadn't bothered him for a while, and she was sure that Naruto had had something to do with it.

Currently, the two were standing by the door, ready to go, and she smiled at them. "Make sure you come back!"

The little girl smiled cheerfully, while Naruto nodded. "Of course we will. Goodbye!"

With that, they stepped out of the door, and Sansho turned to her son. "Oh, I do hope we see them again!"

Karashi smiled, looking a bit unsure. "Yeah...I guess so."

* * *

Outside the house, Sayuri looked at the paper dragon with an annoyed expression. "Did you have to use all the scrolls, nii-san? I was reading one!"

Naruto looked at her, amused. "Oh? Which one?"

"It was about bugs! Nii-san, did you know that some people have bugs living under their skin?"

Naruto shuddered at the idea. "No."

"Well, they do! And some of them made them _poisonous!"_

Nodding along to what Sayuri was saying, Naruto swung his leg over the side of the dragon, helping her on as well. The puppet looked up at the sky, before turning to him quizzically. "So, nii-san, where are we going now?"

Naruto smiled at her as the dragon rose into the air. "You know what?"

She shook her head.

"I have no idea."

* * *

The priestess's eyes snapped open, briefly revealing a strange purple pattern before they faded back to normal. The little girl in her lap looked up at her, unsure. "Ka-chan? Are you alright?"

She smiled down at her, smoothing her hair. "Yes, my darling, I'm fine. Now, why don't you see if dinner has been prepared yet?"

The girl nodded, scampering away, while her mother stared at her sadly. _'Oh, Shion...I thought that it would be better for you to not learn the true ways of the priestess...but now I see that I was wrong. You need that power to survive...and I can see from my vision that there are far worse things than demons in this world...'_

***Phew!* Finally, I believe that I've done my ground-work-laying for my main characters. Now, we can finally get on to the action!**

**Notes on manga: Typical. Sasuke realizes that Naruto may be *gasps* actually at his level, which cannot be tolerated, so he's going to have the eyes of a corpse inserted into his head, just when I thought karma was going to finally come round and make him blind. That, combined with the finishing chapter of the latest anime-arc, is making me feel rather depressed.**** Know what would cheer me up? Reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

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**Perfection**

**I don't own Naruto.**

"Nii-san, when are we going to stop?"

Naruto frowned at the question, glancing downwards. They were currently flying over a sparse forest, the shadow of the dragon clearly visible on the ground. His chakra was ebbing away at a small but constant rate, the sky was gradually darkening, and he knew that they needed to find a place to land, if they wanted to avoid a repeat of their last flight. The problem was, he couldn't see any towns for miles, and he was feeling quite hungry.

Dammit. Why did Konoha have to betray him right before the Academy were about to go through the survival courses?

With a sigh, he nodded at the forest below. "I guess we'll have to stop there for the night."

Sayuri stared down at the forest, her eyes wide. "Outside? But what if it rains?"

Not going to admit that he hadn't thought of that, Naruto quickly improvised. "I'll use the scrolls to build a shelter."

Sayuri frowned, looking confused. "Doesn't paper get soggy in rain?"

"My paper's special" Naruto said confidently. True, he actually had no idea of the paper's properties once it had been infused with his chakra apart from the fact that he could shape it to his whim, but Sayuri didn't need to know that.

Before the puppet could ask anymore questions, Naruto began gently guide the dragon down, careful that its wings didn't catch on any trees. The last thing he needed was for any of the scrolls to be torn after all - the knowledge contained in them was priceless after all.

This time, they actually landed quite nicely, with barely a jolt as the dragon touched the ground. Sayuri got off as quickly as she could, looking around curiously. They were standing in a small clearing, with barely enough room to fit both them and the dragon. The trees were spaced quite close together, providing a thin canopy, but Naruto still hoped that it was not going to rain. It was probably going to be uncomfortable enough as it was.

They really needed to see about getting some provisions. Until then, however, they would just have to make do.

Taking off his jacket, Naruto folded it up, intending to use it as a pillow, while Sayuri settled down with her back against a tree, her eyes closed as she began to 'recharge.' However, try as he might, he just couldn't get to sleep. Perhaps it was the fact that he was feeling hungry, maybe it was simply the cool night air, but he just couldn't drift off. After fruitlessly counting sheep for a whole hour, he sat up, feeling annoyed. Well, if he couldn't sleep, he might as well do something productive!

Rolling over, he saw the pile of scrolls, ready to be moulded back together for their transport in the morning. Naruto reached for the nearest one, not caring what it was.

He felt the smooth texture of the scroll under his fingers, and picked it up, unrolling it as he began to scan it with interest. There were quite a few jutsus listed, a few of them looking very complicated. However, there was one that caught his eye straight away.

_Kage bunshin._

_

* * *

_

Jiraiya slumped down in front of the Sandaime's desk, looking very tired. "I couldn't find him, Sarutobi-sensei. I searched the entire base, but he'd already escaped."

The Sandaime closed his eyes, trying to hide his disappointment. Once again, Naruto had gone, only this time, even Jiraiya had no leads as to where he could be. He'd like to think that Naruto could find his way home, but he was still a young child, and the likelihood of that happening was slim. They'd just have to continue to search for him, despite the enormity of such a task.

Outside the door, Koharu straightened up, her face pale. 'Uzumaki? Escaped? But...but...HOW?'

Well, the 'how' didn't matter. Right now, she needed to find Homura, to warn him and get his help in figuring out a way to stop Uzumaki from coming back and telling Sarutobi just who had given him to Orochimaru in the first place.

Quickly, the elderly kunoichi began making her way towards Homura's home, intent on telling him all that she had heard. Unfortunately for her, that meant she also missed the rest of the conversation between Jiraiya and the Sandaime.

"Orochimaru had Naruto for three years, Jiraiya. What did he do to him?"

The Sannin took a deep breath, withdrawing a picture from his pocket. The Sandaime gasped as it was turned over, exposing the full view of the unconscious child on a metal table. "Is that-"

Jiraiya tapped the glossy surface of the photograph, his finger positioned by Naruto's head. "The greyish colouring, the ripple pattern...Yes, sensei. I think it's the Rinnegan."

Sarutobi glanced sharply at his former student. He had been one of the few that Jiraiya had told about the orphans he had taken care of in Ame, about the young, scared boy who had held the most powerful of the dojutsus. Orochimaru's experiments with DNA grafting were well-known after all..."

"How do you think Orochimaru got hold of...the materials needed? And even if it truly is the Rinnegan, what are those tomoe? They look almost like-"

"The sharingan," Jiraiya finished, looking grim. "Orochimaru was obsessed with that bloodline, back in the old days. He liked the thought of getting power quickly, and his goal is to get his hands on every jutsu in the world. If he could use the sharingan, he would."

"But how would he even get his hands on the genetic material? You told me that young Nagato was dead, and there isn't exactly a ready supply of Uchiha bodies."

Most bloodline-wielding clans preferred to burn the corpses of their dead, to prevent exactly what Orochimaru was trying to do, and the Uchiha had been no exception. After the Uchiha massacre, the bodies of the Uchiha clan had all been destroyed at once, and as far as Sarutobi was aware, Orochimaru hadn't been anywhere near the village during that period.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe he managed to get his hands on some Uchiha DNA before he left. Or perhaps he's had a run-in with Itachi. It doesn't matter how he got it, but what he's _done _with it."

The Sandaime peered closely at Naruto's eyes. "If he's managed to merge the sharingan with the Rinnegan...then he's created a kekkei genkai with practically unlimited potential. But why would he do such a thing to Naruto? Surely he would want to have it for himself?"

Jiraiya's gaze darkened. "That's just it. He _did _do it for himself."

Sarutobi stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"Orochimaru's managed to perfect that immortality jutsu of his. It allows him to leap from body to body, stealing their lives and powers as he does so. And it seems that Naruto was lined up as his next form, once they had managed to extract the Kyuubi from him."

The Sandaime was torn between outrage at the thought of Orochimaru trying to steal the body of the boy who had been practically a surrogate grandchild for him, sadness at what his student had become, and confusion over what Jiraiya had just said. "But surely extracting the Kyuubi would kill him? I thought Orochimaru needed a body to be living before he could take it over."

Jiraiya pulled out a file, carefully placing it down in front of the Hokage. "Prepare yourself, and take a look."

Slowly, the Sandaime flipped through the pages, his face growing paler with every word he read. Finally, he reached the end, and looked up at Jiraiya, his expression unreadable. "So...we have a jinchuuriki wandering around, a jinchuuriki with an unstable seal, who cannot be killed, who can steal the hearts of others, who can turn our shuriken and kunai against us, who can turn paper into weapons, who can cause tremendous explosions...and to find him, we'll be racing against Orochimaru's forces who want to drag him back to Oto so that Orochimaru can possess his powers."

Jiraiya nodded, not knowing what else to do, and the elderly kage exhaled. "Find him, Jiraiya. I don't care what you have to do, but find him. We cannot afford to let Orochimaru get hold of him...or anyone else, for that matter."

* * *

Kushina shivered as she ducked inside the shack, one hand clutching her left arm, around which a bandage had been hastily knotted. The shack was tiny, barely the size of her bathroom back in Konoha, and rainwater was dripping through the leaky roof, but it was still a shelter, and she was reluctant to leave it. She was barely a day's walk from Kiri, and her chakra was still close to being depleted after she had performed _that_ jutsu to escape.

But she had had no choice. It was her son's life that had been at stake, not hers. And Kushina would gladly give her life for her son, despite the fact that she hadn't seen Naruto in over seven years, despite the fact that he was jinchuuriki.

At that thought, Kushina's eyes darkened, and she gripped the handle of the chipped knife she had found lying amongst the overgrown weeds around the shack. She had accepted Naruto as a jinchuuriki, had known that he was still her son, and not the Kyuubi...but that didn't stop her feeling a surge of bitterness and hatred whenever she thought of what Naruto's status as a jinchuuriki had meant for their family.

She and Minato had never really talked about marriage, neither comfortable with the idea of exposing their relationship to the scrutiny of the ever power-hungry in Konoha, such as Danzo, who seemed to believe that it was Minato's duty as a shinobi to breed, using a suitably loyal Konoha-born kunoichi of course, and raise a generation of prodigies that would be trained as ninjas from before they could even walk.

However, both had known that they wanted something more permanent, and when Kushina became pregnant, Minato had been so excited, so happy about getting the family that he had always longed for. Though they were still uneasy about baring their relationship to the village, they had decided to get married, before the baby was born, and raise it in the happy, stable home that neither of them had as children.

But the Kyuubi spoiled it all.

When Konoha had learned of the Kyuubi approaching the village, Minato had immediately thrown himself into researching how to stop it, but had found to his horror that the only way was to seal it within a human child. As chakra coils were not properly formed until the age of three or so, any child under that age would have sufficed, but Minato was appalled at the idea of asking anyone to give up their child.

_Anyone but me._

Kushina had not known about what her husband had planned - she had been in labour for two days, and all she was aware of was the terrible pain, and the horrible, malevolent aura of the Kyuubi seeping through the air as the creature tore through the shinobi fighting it outside the village. She had barely sensed Minato as he took her baby aware, had barely heard his tearful promise that everything would turn out alright.

It didn't.

Kushina was shocked to find out her son was a jinchuuriki, but that didn't matter so much to her as the fact that Minato had sacrificed himself to make Naruto into one. The man she had loved, the father of her child, was dead, and she had not only lost him, but also his protection.

Naruto might have saved the village, but they were not grateful. They had screamed for his death, demanding that the 'Kyuubi' be put down like a rabid dog. The Sandaime had put a halt to that, but there had still been attempts to destroy 'the demon brat and the witch that bore it'. Though the Hokage had assigned an ANBU squad to be on permanent bodyguard duty, it had still been very stressful, and Kushina constantly worried about leaving her baby alone while she went out on missions, afraid that one day she wouldn't come home to him.

So it wasn't really that surprising when she was ambushed.

The red-haired jounin shuddered, remembering the day with crystal-clear clarity. Whoever had been the one to order her capture had clearly wanted her a lot, because her three ambushers - Chiseigyoki Taishuu, Raiga, and Hoshigaki Kisame - had all been members of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri.

One Swordsman, she might have been able to defeat. Two, she could have escaped from with a bit of luck. But three, especially a three that included Kisame and his sword that greedily drank at her chakra, sapping her strength and giving it to the shark-man, was impossible.

Kushina shivered, trying to shake herself out of her memories. Her strength was gradually returning, and soon she'd be back in Konoha, back with her son. Not only that, but she had some very important information for the Hokage...and something else.

Almost unconsciously, her hand went to the pouch on her hip. Normally, it would have held kunai or shuriken, but those had been taken off her long ago. Now, what it held was a simple scroll, the sort that any ninja would carry, with the kanji for 'Four' written on it in dark green ink.

* * *

When Sayuri 'woke up' the next morning, it was to find Naruto hanging by his feet from a tree as he folded a piece of paper, quickly crafting it into a graceful swan with arching wings. To a stranger, this might look like a great accomplishment, but the puppet knew that, for Naruto, a thing like that was so easy that it was practically instinctual - he probably wasn't even aware of what he was making. So she was rather puzzled by the smug grin he was sporting, as if he'd done something so fiendishly clever that everyone should be in awe of him.

"Nii-san? Why are you smiling like that?"

Naruto dropped the swan, but he'd clearly put some chakra in it as it fluttered through the air before diving towards the ground, unfolding back into a sheet with tiny, looping writing scrawled across it. The blonde then reached up and grabbed the branch his feet were clinging to; releasing his chakra and allowing himself to swing for a few moments before dropping to the floor, his normal mischievous grin on his face. "Oh, no reason."

Possessing the intelligence of at least the average seven-year old, Sayuri wasn't going to be fobbed off by that - and besides, it was obvious to anyone looking at him that Naruto really wanted to say - or, rather, boast about - something.

"Come on! What have you done?"

Naruto sat down, his legs stretched off to the left, and glanced at the scroll that had been a swan a few seconds previously. Sayuri followed his gaze, and her eyes widened. "You learned a jutsu from there?"

Naruto nodded, and she instantly started firing off excited questions. "Which one? How did you learn it? When'd you learn it? Can I do it? Are-"

Naruto smiled indulgently as she continued to pester, fully intending to show off his jutsu as he had always longed to do back in Konoha, but willing to put up with Sayuri's stream of questions until she ran out. He wasn't, however, going to admit that he had actually barely snatched a wink of sleep, so absorbed had he been in trying to make the jutsu work, even when his eyelids had felt as heavy as lead from lack of sleep. He was still feeling a bit tired, but he was also full of triumph, because just as dawn began to tint the sky red, he had managed to finally get the jutsu to work.

Finally, as Sayuri slowed down, waiting for him to actually show her, Naruto put his hands together to form a seal. "Kage bunshin!"

There was a puff of smoke that filled the clearing, briefly obscuring Sayuri's vision. When it cleared, she blinked, and blinked again, wondering whether her eyes had failed her.

Standing next to Naruto was a perfect replica of the blonde, with every detail identical from the wild silvery hair to the whisker marks on his cheeks to the dagger strapped to his hip. The clone smiled cheekily, and gave a little wave. "What do you think, Sayuri-chan? Cool or what?"

The puppet nodded slowly, reaching out to touch the clone's hand. Her eyes widened as she felt his fingers. "He's solid, nii-san!" She looked thoughtful for a minute. "It must have been really hard to learn it!"

Both Narutos nodded, beaming at the praise. Naruto was certainly not going to admit that there had actually been at least basic instructions about going through the jutsu - though he didn't know it, the scroll had been a relic of Orochimaru's jounin days in Konoha, and thus had contained the necessary information for anyone who actually needed to learn the jutsu.

"Can you teach me?"

Naruto shrugged, looking up at the sky. "Maybe later. Right now, we've got to keep moving - they've probably sent people after us, and I really don't want to get caught."

Not needing to ask who 'they' were, Sayuri nodded, watching as the scrolls began to shape themselves into the dragon once again. She frowned, looking at a scroll that was folding itself up into the tail of the dragon. "Nii-san...shouldn't you be a bit more careful of them? They're the only jutsus we've got..."

Naruto frowned, considering her point. True, the scrolls were beginning to get a bit creased from the constant folding, and he could tell that the damage would grow after a while, but it was the only paper supply they had available. Then again, it shouldn't be that hard to find more paper...he'd have to look into it.

"We'll see. Now, come on! We have to find a town!"

* * *

Sakon grimaced as he peered carefully through the silent trees, his fingers twitching as his curse mark twinged with pain. "Any sign of him?"

Next to him, Kidomaru shook his head, his four arms folded against his chest, looking like a macabre insect. "The kid knows the game; he'll be long gone by now."

The leader of the Sound Four gritted his teeth, spindly fingers drumming a tattoo against his leg as he looked around. The ruined base was a trail far too cold to pursue, but they had no other leads as to where Orochimaru's future vessel might be. Some shinobi had reported seeing a white beast with two children on its back flying through the air, but the direction that it had gone differed with each account, and tracking every suspected path could take months.

Unfortunately, they had no choice. Orochimaru was furious over the loss of Naruto, and he was determined to get the boy back by any means necessary. Finding him would actually be the easiest part - if the rumours that Sakon had heard were true, then getting the boy back to Oto could involve confronting Sannin-level ninjas, or even an actual member of the legendary three. However, the two-headed boy ignored the fear coursing through him at the thought of tackling a ninja far beyond his level (he was arrogant, but not _that _arrogant) and focused on the task at hand.

He could see no hint of where Orochimaru's future vessel had run off to, meaning that the Sound Four would have to simply comb the land until they found him. And while it would be three more years until Orochimaru was ready to transfer again, he knew that the Sannin wanted Naruto captured as quickly as possible, and they wouldn't be able to cover as much ground if they were together.

"We're splitting up. Jirobo, you search east, Tayuya, take the west, and Kidomaru, go south. I'll look in the north."

Tayuya glared at him, her flute dangling from her fingers. "This is going to take too fucking lon-"

Sakon glared at her, feeling Ukon twitch under their shared skin. "Orochimaru-sama wants this Uzumaki kid, and he's going to get him. But if he doesn't get him as soon as possible, he's going to be _very_ unhappy. This is the fastest way to find him without any leads, so shut up and move out!"

The red-head muttered a few curses under her breath, but she obeyed, stomping off in the direction that Sakon had directed her to. Sakon let out a sigh, before setting off on his own path. This was going to be tricky, no doubt about it, but they would find the Uzumaki brat. Orochimaru would not accept anything less.

* * *

Kabuto smirked as he knelt before the Hoshikage, though his bowed head and submissive posture suggested that he was showing nothing but respect to the village leader. However, the silver-haired 'genin' couldn't help but feel amused. He had been in the presence of many kage-level ninjas, had fought some members of the Sound Four, had met jounin and missing-nin, all of whom could wipe the floor with the man who presumed to call himself 'kage.'

Hell, he wasn't sure if Naruto wouldn't be able to defeat him. The boy might not know any jutsus, but he had been mercilessly drilled in taijutsu and kenjutsu by Guren, was pretty nifty with those black threads, showing signs in becoming very skilled in both creating puppets and using them in combat - and, of course, he couldn't die. It would be...interesting to pit him against men like the one sitting before him, who had ninja education, but lacked the raw talent and drive Naruto had to succeed.

"Are you sure that this will work, Yakushi-san? The star is very valuable to us, and we are going against Konoha by allowing your master's work to continue here."

Kabuto gave him a friendly smile. Truthfully, Orochimaru could not have cared less about the trouble that Hoshigakure would be in were Konoha to discover their dealings with the missing-nin. However, the bigger village didn't have any spies planted in Hoshi, as it was such a minor village that they didn't think it was worth wasting their valuable spies on. A mistake that would cost them.

"I am sure, Hoshikage-sama. We have healing techniques that will negate the harmful effects of the star, allowing your shinobi to rise to their full potential."

Wariness and greed warred in the Hoshikage's face, the instinctual distrust of a man such as Orochimaru battling against the desire of the vision Kabuto had presented to him; one filled with the proud, powerful shinobi of Hoshigakure taking their place as the top ninja on the continent.

Where they belonged.

At last, the aged 'kage' nodded, spreading his brittle hands. "Very well. What do you require?"

* * *

After about an hour's worth of flying, Naruto spotted a clump of glowing orange lights in the distance, the crescent moon above him illuminating the inky outlines of some small buildings clumped together. Quickly, he urged the dragon downwards, knowing that as impressive as it looked, flying a paper monster into the middle of a town was not the kind of entrance he wanted to make. They had to keep a low profile, after all.

As soon as they touched the forest floor, Naruto caused the dragon to dissolve into hundreds of scrolls, making a special effort not to crumple them more than he had to. Sayuri then got to work sealing them into the elaborate seals that dotted her skin, while Naruto began his efforts to disguise himself.

Even before he had been abandoned by Konoha, he had not been one to fade into the background. He had been loud, desperate for attention, and his bright golden hair and whiskered cheeks were something that stood out in a crowd. But back then, he had been able to bow his head, to be quiet, to slip through the crowds and vanish among them. Now, it was not so easy.

Squatting on his haunches, he dug his fingers into the dark, moist floor of the forest, his nails scraping against the twisted root of some overgrown tree. Then he pulled his hand up, his fingers now caked in the wet earth, which he proceeded to rub into the pale side of his body, trying to darken it.

It wasn't anywhere near the calibre of a henge, or the work of a good make-up artist. However, it did level the skin tones, and you wouldn't be able to spot that anything was wrong without looking very closely. His hand-mouths and stitches were covered by his clothing, but he couldn't really do anything about his eyes apart from brushing his fringe over them, trying to cover them up. It didn't really work, but it was better than nothing.

Once he was finished, Naruto felt uncomfortably sticky, and his hair was tickling his eyes, but at least he was somewhat disguised. Sayuri swore that it looked brilliant, but seeing as she was a six-year old child, he was rather disinclined to take her word for it. Still, it wasn't as if they were going to run into any Oto nins - he didn't think that anyone could have come after him _that _quickly.

* * *

The shinobi flowed silently through the trees, their stride quick but smooth as they travelled through the forest, the sunlight reflecting off their porcelain masks. If one was going to get poetical about them, then they could be described as 'living shadows' or 'ethereal warriors', so strong and fluid were their movements.

But none of these shinobi were remotely poetic. Any emotion that had the potential to make them so had long since been stamped out of them, leaving empty husks that lived only for orders.

ROOT had been sent out to find Uzumaki Naruto. They would not fail.

* * *

The town was longer away than Naruto thought, and hidden by the swathe of forest, which got thicker and thicker the further they travelled along the dirt path that snaked its way through the trees. However, he was determined to reach it within the hour, and so he set a fast pace, forcing Sayuri to jog quickly in order to keep up with him. Her clicking limbs and quiet grumbles filled the air, disguising the sound of footsteps and the crunch of brittle leaves.

But it didn't disguise the sound of a knife whistling through the air, heading straight for Naruto.

The blonde turned around, and the blade froze, hanging motionless in mid-air. With a narrow of his eyes, it spun around and shot backwards, flying towards whoever had thrown it.

There was a muffled curse, and five shapes blundered out of the shadows, one bleeding from a wound in his thigh. Sayuri looked alarmed, but stayed where she was, while Naruto calmly assessed their attackers.

They didn't seem to be ninja, but these men - for all five of them were male, though some looked to be in their late teens - were definitely not peaceful civilians. They were dressed in outfits designed to blend into the forest, and some had swords strapped to their backs while others held nasty-looking clubs and axes. Their eyes glinted greedily as they looked at the two children, and Naruto had a nasty feeling that they wouldn't be showing any mercy.

Good.

He didn't need any.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here? A couple of kiddies having a stroll?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, not impressed by the man's baby-talk. Kabuto had been ten times as scary to him, and the blonde hadn't trembled before him either. "Who are you?"

The speaker, who seemed to be the leader, scowled, seeming to be offended by something Naruto had said.

"You walk in our forests, and you dare not know who we are? This group is the collection of most feared men to walk the land, and I am their leader, Akanimaru, the feared 'Bloody Death'! With this weapon," - he brandished an axe with a scratched blade stained with a reddish-brown hue - "I have killed over a hundred men, and tonight, I will add the blood of a boy to it!"

Naruto was beginning to wonder if he and Sayuri had accidentally wandered into the scene of a particularly bad movie, because there was no way that anyone could call themselves the most feared person in the land when there were people from Oto wandering around. And for that matter, who the hell had given that bandit his title? It was flamboyant at best, at worse, the unimaginative creation of someone with a very large ego.

He was betting on the latter. "Well, if you have no respect for our group, then I guess we'll just have to teach you some, eh boys?"

The other men nodded, brandishing their weapons as they drew closer. Naruto shifted his weight onto one foot, waiting for them to get close enough. Once he judged the distance to be close enough, he struck.

Black threads shot out of his body, and wrapped themselves around the throats of the throats of the two nearest bandits, blood trickling down their necks as the threads cut into their skin as they tightened. Choking, one of the men reached up, trying to yank the threads from his throat as his face turned purple. The other was a bit smarter, hacking at them with the knife in his hand. After a bit of resistance, they gave way, letting the man drop to the forest floor.

The other man tried to do the same, but he was already dizzy from the lack of air, and before he could raise his own weapon, Naruto yanked the threads back sharply, snapping his neck with a loud _crack._

The three men who had not attacked him, clearly hanging back to watch what they thought would be an easy victory, stared at him in horror, their weapons limp in their hands as they tried to comprehend that what was meant to be an easy target had just killed one of their comrades, and temporarily incapacitated the other. In the time it took for their minds to process this, Naruto had already drawn his own weapon, and lunged forward, plunging it into the throat of the nearest of the befuddled trio before twisting and yanking it out, the scales now shiny with blood.

Was it his imagination, or did he feel a sense of satisfaction emanating from the blade?

The final two men, finally roused out of their horrified stupor, threw themselves at him, their faces twisted with rage. A chain shot out, wrapping around the legs of the man on the left, dragging him down, before a whirring noise filled the air. Naruto spared a grateful glance at Sayuri before slamming his foot into Akanimaru's chest, while forcing his metal axe to fly out of his hands. Akanimaru stared at the weapon dumbly, and Naruto made it shoot backwards - right into the man's face, cleaving his skull in two.

Something wet and pink slapped the ground amid a shower of blood. Grimacing as some of the red liquid trickled down his face, Naruto lowered his dagger, and noticed that it seemed to have grown a couple of inches to his bewilderment. But that wasn't the most worrying part - it was that the scales on it were now raised up slightly, creating a blade of jagged spikes. Naruto grimaced. There was no way he could carry that on his hip now - his leg would be torn to shreds.

_Yessss..."_

Naruto blinked, looking around. He thought he had just heard a strange, scratchy whisper, like that of an old man, rustling in the wind. But then he shook his head, certain that it was just a trick of his mind.

"Nii-san?"

Naruto straightened up, and turned to look at Sayuri, who stood with the bodies of the two he hadn't butchered at her feet. Naruto could see from the weak ebbing of their chakra that they were injured badly; perhaps beyond the help of medical care. If he wanted to, it would be easy to finish them off. It would be just as easy to show them mercy by performing a medical technique on them, heal them, and leave them with the scars they no doubt would have littered over their bodies as a permanent lesson.

He did neither.

Instead, he turned and walked away with Sayuri following at his heels, listening to their moans fade away as he strode off, feeling disgusted that all they could do was lie there, waiting to either die or be found by someone with a kinder soul than theirs. If he had been injured, he knew that he would never have just wilted like a cut flower, trusting himself to the whim of the gods, if there were any.

Naruto would never have given up.

Never.

* * *

The man gasped as he lay on the futon, his sweaty face wracked with pain and fever. A sickness had swept through the land, a nasty one that had already killed three out of the twenty-five people who had caught it. Desperate, the villagers had turned to their powerful and wise priestess for help, knowing that she could heal them when their ordinary doctors could not.

This was nothing new to Shion - many came to see her mother with afflictions like this, some which her mother could cure, some which were beyond her. But today was different, for now she was going to perform the healing instead./ppIt had been a great shock for the young girl when her mother had unexpectedly announced that she was to begin her training as a priestess. Shion knew that she was supposed to have begun it earlier, from the day she had received her first vision, but for some reason, her mother had delayed this, citing excuses that Shion needed to be a child, that becoming a priestess was a burden that could be bestowed later, when Shion was more mature. But suddenly, she had changed her mind, and had begun to train her daughter, with no explanation as to why she had changed her mind.

It was hard. Shion had had to learn how to control her chakra, how to bind demons, how to heal wounds, how to create shields of her own chakra, how to ease pain, how to smile politely at someone when she knew they were going to die, how to accept that there were some things she could not change, even with her gift to foretell them.

Those latter lessons were the hardest to learn.

The strange thing was, though the list of powers Shion now had under her belt were impressive, they were not as hard as one might have thought to learn - even though the girl had often strained herself to exhaustion as she practiced them, it was nothing more than the tiredness of a normal young kunoichi who had trained too hard perfecting the academy jutsus. However, her mother told her that she still had far to go, because she was nowhere near as powerful as she had the potential to be.

When Shion asked her mother how she could go about reaching that potential, Miroku's face had gone a bit funny, and she had told her daughter that she would simply have to 'grow by walking the path the future had set down for her, no matter how hard it got'. Shion didn't know exactly what her mother meant by that, but the look on her face had told her to not as further questions.

Now, the young girl knelt down by the futon, soft pink chakra shimmering in her palm as she held it just above the man's skin, before letting it flow into his body, soothing and healing it.

It took a lot of chakra to heal him, and Shion was left feeling exhausted by the end, but then again, that was what priestesses were meant to do - to heal, to bring goodness and light to a time where there was precious little of either. The Land of Demons did not have a ninja village, but Shion knew that there were thousands of the warriors running around, and the thought of them both scared and excited her. Scared, because everyone told her that ninja were ruthless people who cared for nothing but killing. On the other hand, they sounded exotic and exciting, and part of her longed to meet one.

The rest of her thought that it would be a good idea if she never met a single ninja in her life.

* * *

"Foolish boy! You dare to challenge us, on our-URK!"

Naruto yanked out the dagger, noting dispassionately that it almost seemed to be growing longer as he used it more and more to kill. Well, if that was the case, it seemed like it was going to get a lot bigger, as the forest was riddled with bandits who seemed determined to try their luck against the pair.

Really, could none of them hear the screams of the others?

He was almost considering just abandoning the attempt to reach the town at all, and just flying off to look for another. However, he could smell something cooking, along with the tangy scent of wood smoke, and knew he was getting close. It would be a waste to turn back now.

Sure enough, after a few more minutes of walking, he saw a group of buildings rising above the treetops, along with what looked like a hastily-erected wall that seemed to be on the brink of collapsing. Clearly, the townspeople were trying to keep something out.

With Sayuri following him, Naruto walked up to the large door set in the wall - or, to be more accurate, the gap in the wall that had been barricaded with planks of wood. He was just about to peer through one of the gaps between the planks when a spear was suddenly thrust out of it, prompting him to jerk back in alarm.

A hoarse voice issued from behind the wood. "Go away, thieves! This town shall not submit to you!"

Sayuri looked offended - Kami help those who insult the honour of a six-year old child. "We're not thieves!"

The voice sounded indignant. "Liars! If you're not here to rob us, then why does he have a weapon?"

Naruto glanced down at the incriminating dagger in his hand, which was stained a vivid crimson from the blood he had drawn. Squashing the guilty urge to hide it behind his back, he glared up at the barricade. "Because we had to fight our way over here!"

"Fight? Two little children against the droves of bandits in this forest? Don't make me laugh! I know what you really are - some spies that they sent in, to learn our weaknesses and-"

"Oh, knock it off, Jin, and let them come in. I doubt that they'd be a match for us, even if they were spies. They're just kids."

Naruto bristled at the second voice - if these people were really afraid of the bandits he had slaughtered, then he didn't think that they'd be a match for_him _- but Sayuri looked excited as the planks were slid to one side, revealing the owners of the voices.

One was an old man with white hair, who was stooped with age and had beady, mistrustful eyes. The other one was a girl, a few years older than Naruto, with short black hair and keen amber eyes, presumably the owner of the second voice. She looked them over from head to toe and sighed. "See, Jin? They're not bandits."

The old man shook his head, looking determined. "Just wait and see, Moriko! This is just another one of Akanimaru's tricks! We'll be dead before dawn if we let them stay!"

Moriko sighed, looking weary. A quick glance around told Naruto why.

The town looked quite rundown, with quite a few damaged buildings and from what he could see, quite hungry towns-people. An air of quiet desperation hung about them, like a black cloud, and they were staring at the newcomers with distrust in their eyes.

Moriko noticed his expression. "It's the bandits, I'm afraid. They came to this area about six months ago, and since then, we've pretty much been under siege. Anyone who goes out gets robbed if they're lucky, and if they're not..." She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "They're food for the dogs. How did you manage to get through them anyway?"

Despite her light question, her tone was guarded, and Naruto felt decidedly nervous about the large number of townsmen, all of whom were clutching some nasty-looking weapons. Perhaps it would be best if he were honest.

"We killed them."

For a moment, Moriko merely looked at him, her eyes wide. Then she shook her head, slender fingers drumming against the large pocket knife tucked into her belt. "Well, that's quite a morbid joke. So, how did you really get through them?"

Naruto felt annoyed. "I just told you!"

Moriko glared at him. "Enough's enough, kid! If those men could be taken down by kids, we'd have gotten rid of them a long time ago! We've sent out men against them, we've posted up a reward for every dead bandit, we've even hired ninja-"

Naruto blinked. "And the ninja couldn't get rid of them?"

Scowling, Moriko folded her arms. "Well, they never came. The nearest ninja village to us is Kusagakure, and they've got so few ninja to spare that problems like ours get shoved under the more 'important' things. Itsuki hired a team to escort him to another town near Kiri for trading - that's a higher ranked mission, so they should come here, and hopefully kill off a few of them on the way, but they'll only be here by next week at the earliest. Until then, we're stuck - there's a giant camp of them up north, and anyone going near there just gets slaughtered."

Naruto considered this. On one hand, while he couldn't die, it was still pretty painful to get turned into a human pincushion, as he was pretty sure would happen if he attacked a bandit camp with just him and Sayuri. On the other hand...

"You mentioned...a reward?"

Moriko looked at him with narrowed eyes. "One hundred and fifty ryo for every bandit brought in, yes. Don't tell me you're thinking of going after it, kid. Maybe you'll get lucky, maybe you could take down a couple _if_ you're better than you look, but you couldn't take down every last one of these guys all at once."

Naruto smiled, his rippled blue eyes gleaming in a way that once might have been innocently childish.

"We'll see."

* * *

Kushina staggered forward, the air burning in her lungs as she pushed herself at a speed that her muscles simply weren't used to coping with. The chakra coils in her leg felt like they were going to burst from the violent waves of chakra surging through them, the strap of her sandals were digging painfully into the back of her heels, and she desperately wanted to rest, but she couldn't make herself stop. Though Kirigakure was now days behind her, to the former ANBU, every shadow was a hunter-nin, every snapped twig the signal for an ambush.

Suddenly, she heard voices, and halted herself by grabbing onto a tree branch, dread coursing through her as she tried to peer through the trees to see where they were coming from. Her hand curled weakly around the handle of the single kunai she had, while she desperately tried to stop the ragged breaths that felt like they were clawing their way out of her chest. She could not fight - now that her mind had been drawn out of the comforting monotone of just springing from tree to tree, pushing herself closer to her goal with every time her trembling foot struck the ground, she found that she barely had the strength to stand.

"This is the Sixth Squad of Konoha's ANBU! You are trespassing on Konohagakure's land! Surrender now, or suffer the consequences!"

Though the voice that had just echoed through the forest definitely did not sound friendly, to Kushina, it was as if Minato himself had called from the trees. Falling to her knees, she answered.

"This is Uzumaki Kushina, former ANBU Captain. Please, take me to Hokage-sama."

* * *

Moriko's face paled as Naruto dumped the bodies down in front of her, giving a sigh of relief as he let the last corpse thud into the dusty ground. Next to him, Sayuri smiled up at the woman. "See? Nii-san said he could do it!"

The older girl didn't answer, instead squatting down next to Akanimaru's body, gingerly poking at the collar of his stained shirt with a nauseous expression on her face. "You...killed him? But...but..."

"That'll be one thousand, five hundred ryo" said Naruto proudly, having run the calculations through his head all the way back to the town from the place where he had left the bodies of the bandits that he had already killed. He was only just getting started, but already he could see food for himself, money for inns, and whatever else he and Sayuri might need - and just from killing a bunch of men that, in his opinion, were only wasting valuable air by breathing.

He liked doing this.

Moriko straightened up, and a troubled expression crossed her face for the briefest of moments, before she nodded, and smiled brightly. "I...see. Tell me, are you going to go after the rest of the men?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah. It's more money then, isn't it?"

Moriko's voice was odd as she turned away. "Yes. Yes, it is."

* * *

Sarutobi walked down the grey corridor of the hospital, the cheap light above his head flickering ominously as he neared the room of one Uzumaki Kushina. It had been a week since the squad of ANBU had happened upon the redhead, and yet, he had delayed this meeting for as long as he could, citing whatever reason he could think of - that his paperwork was simply too much to just leave on his desk, that he didn't want to disturb Kushina, that he thought the woman was still too sick from the damage she had received to be distressed by the truth of her son. But truthfully, he did not want to have to face a mother and tell her that he had failed her child.

Unlike her.

Sarutobi's eyes flashed as he remembered the report from the medics. Kushina had undergone great physical torture, it seemed. Bones had been broken repeatedly, she was physically malnourished, her body was laced with a network of scars, her pale skin was dark with bruises and burns. And despite that, she had not broken. If she had, then she would not have been set free - instead, she'd have been disposed of, and there would be another village flaunting Minato's work.

Of course, Kushina would have to be questioned about her disappearance, probably by Ibiki himself, to make sure that there had been no foul play on her part when it came to her disappearance. The kage doubted it - Kushina had been far too devoted to Naruto to even think about leaving him to fend for himself in a village that hated him - but still, there would always be those who would maliciously whisper that of course she had slipped off into the night, for who would want to be the mother of a jinchuuriki?

But before then, Sarutobi had insisted on being the one to break the news to her about Naruto's disappearance. He could do nothing less - Kushina had suffered so much already, and he would be damned if she learned the truth from a taunting stranger.

Steeling himself, the Sandaime knocked lightly on the door, half-hoping that she was asleep.

"Come...in..."

With a sigh, the aged kage pushed the door open.

Kushina was lying on a hospital bed, her long red hair, now washed and carefully combed out by a kindly nurse, trailing over the pillow. She looked thin and wane, and her skin was the tell-tale too-healthy-pink that came from extensive chaka healing. Though it was almost a decade since Sarutobi saw her last, she seemed to have barely aged at all, a fact that did not surprise him, considering her clan. However, something about her had definitely changed, deeper than the wounds she bore. She seemed harder...and at the same time, as brittle as glass. Despite that, her violet eyes were bright and alert, and they locked onto Sarutobi's the moment he stepped into the room.

A smile spread over her face as she saw who had just come in. "Sandaime-sama!"

Forcing a smile on his face, Sarutobi nodded at her. "Kushina. It gladdens me beyond words that you have returned to this village."

Kushina nodded weakly. "Me too. I can't tell...you how horrible it was in...that place, Sarutobi. It was...like hell, to put it nicely. But I don't want to talk...about it. I want to know...where's Naruto?"

Though her voice was raspy and weak, it had a desperate tone to it, a need, not a want, to see that her child was safe.

And Sarutobi couldn't give that to her.

"Kushina, I'm so sorry..."

* * *

Noboru grinned when he saw the large stock of sake that had been piled up in the middle of the camp. "Sweet!"

"Damn right!" his friend agreed, looking eagerly at the stash. "Good thing Akanimaru's not come back by now, otherwise he'd be grabbing it all for himself."

Noboru nodded, reaching for a bottle. He had an exciting lifestyle, money, dozens of women, and alcohol. Life was good.

He didn't notice the eyes fixed on him from up in the trees.

* * *

"Nii-san? How are we going to do this?"

Naruto leaned forward, pondering Sayuri's question as he stared down at the bandit camp. There were a lot of people there, about fifty of them, and they were clearly enjoying themselves, with lots of laughter, sake, and scantily-clad women lying around. Whether the women were bandits or not, he didn't know, but they didn't seem to carrying weapons, and some were looking very uncomfortable about being there, so he decided that he would focus on the bandits instead.

Making a decision, he turned to Sayuri. "Unseal the puppets."

A look of understanding appeared on her face, and with a puff of smoke, she brought out the six human puppets they had, though she didn't look very happy about it.

Pale chakra threads shimmered as they flew through the air, attaching themselves to the bodies of the puppets. They had split them up, three for both of them, which was about as much as they could control at once. With a grin baring his sharp teeth, Naruto set his puppets forward, their bodies already shifting to reveal their weapons as they landed among the alarmed bandits, ready to carve a path of destruction before he and Sayuri actually fought themselves.

Six - well, technically seven - puppets and Naruto against no less than fifty fully grown armed men.

It would have been close. But Naruto decided that he wanted to tip the scales a little more. He wanted to test out this new jutsu after all.

* * *

Kushina stared at him blankly, her violet eyes cold.

"Orochimaru. You let my _six-year-old_ son be captured by _Orochimaru_."

Sarutobi winced. "Kushina-"

She sat up in her bed despite her weakness, hands gripping the side of her hospital bed so tightly her knuckles turned white. "You let my son fall into the hands of that monster? I was being tortured, being treated like an animal because I wouldn't betray Konoha, and you couldn't even keep my son safe in return?"

"Kushina, you don't understand. We thought that he was safe, but he just vanished one day, and-"

"Vanished" she repeated, her voice cold. "And tell me, Hokage-sama, just how long did it take you to notice that Naruto was gone? An hour? A day? Or was he simply so unimportant that you only noticed when the villagers complained that they had lost their venting target and wanted to find someone else to treat like a demon?"

Sarutobi bowed his head in shame. It was true that he had not noticed that Naruto was missing for a while, as his workload had been far too heavy for him to make his normal monthly trip to see the boy, and so he had not realized until it was too late. However, he knew that Kushina would not accept such a weak excuse, and so he kept silent.

Kushina folded her arms, slumping back against her pillow. "Tell me, Sarutobi. Do you know what was thought to be the worst act of cowardice in Uzu no Kuni?"

Surprised at the sudden change in topic, Sarutobi shook his head.

"It was the act of abandonment - leaving your comrades behind when they needed help. But when my village was being terrorized by Kumo shinobi, I was forbidden to go and help them by the Konoha shinobi who were meant to be helping us, but instead decided that we were a lost cause before they even arrived, and just sent the survivors back to Konoha. My family died, and I was just packed into your forces like a spare kunai."

"I don't-"

"Let me finish, Sarutobi. I spent years getting over the fact that my village - the village I had sworn to protect as a shinobi - had fallen, and I wasn't there to fall with it. Years to stop feeling guilty about living when my family had died, years to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't a Whirlpool shinobi, while at the same time, I wasn't a Konoha one either. I had years to build up my life again, and I did it, with Minato being a key part of it. But then I lost him."

Sarutobi was beginning to feel that this was getting out hand. "Kushina, Minato chose to sacrifice himself-"

"I know," the former ANBU hissed. "I know that he chose to leave us without any form of support, I know that he chose the village over his own son, I know that he knew what would happen to us in a village that had just lost so much to the Kyuubi. I knew that, and I accepted it - I didn't like it, but I accepted it, because I knew what Minato was like. But...I could never accept the way Konoha treated my son."

Feeling every one of his long years, Sarutobi shook his head sadly. "They were hurting, Kushina. They needed to be shown that he was not a demon-"

"Oh, that's all very convenient, isn't it? Konoha can't be bothered to see that the son of their hero isn't the demon they want him to be so that they get an excuse for taking their anger out on him, so it's up to him to prove that he isn't, and if they continued to be a crowd of ungrateful bigots, well, that just goes to show that he didn't try hard enough, doesn't it?"

"That's not what I meant," Sarutobi protested.

"But it's what Konoha interpreted that as," Kushina said, shoving her blankets off.

"What are you doing? The medic-nins ordered-"

"I'll tell you what I'm doing, Sarutobi-sama. I am going to get out of this hospital. I am going to find some proper clothes. I am going to go back to my apartment to see if there's anything worth salvaging. And then I am going to leave this village for good."

Sarutobi stared at her, horror-struck. "Leave? Kushina, you can't-"

"I can't what? Leave a village I have no proper allegiance to? Leave a place that scorned my son for saving them from a monster that would have crushed Konoha like an anthill? Find my son before _your _student gets his filthy hands on him?"

Sarutobi frowned at the mention of his student, but carried on. "Kushina, I know that the treatment Naruto recieved was far less than he deserved. But can you really deny him his heritage? His true home? His rightful comrades?"

Kushina howled with laughter, the sound wild and bordering on hysterical. "Deny him his heritage? As I recall, the Council ordered me out of Minato's home and refused to acknowledge Naruto as anything other than the bastard son of a foreign whore that had no doubt slept with a blonde ninja and was using that as a claim to fame. His 'home' was a tiny apartment with outrageous rent fees because keeping 'animals' cost extra. And as for his rightful comrades...Every friend Minato and I had deserted us once Naruto's condition became known - something that I told you was a bad idea and you ignored. No one acknowledged me as a comrade, they treated me like a leper instead. Even Mikoto and Hitomi-"

Sarutobi froze, dreading that he had to be the bearer of more bad news, even if it was slightly better than he described. After all, the true status and number of the Uchiha clan could not be spilled to just anyone; even young Sasuke hadn't earned the clearance yet.

"Mikoto's dead, Kushina."

Kushina stared at him, her face deathly pale. "What?"

"I suppose you wouldn't know, but two years ago, the Uchiha clan was attacked. They fought as best as they could, but their assailant...well, few in Konoha could stand against him. Only Sasuke, her youngest son, survived."

"Dead? B-but...Who?"

"The attacker was Uchiha Itachi."

It took a few moments for Kushina to pierce together her memories to work out just who that was. Her eyes narrowed, while her fingers tightened around her blanket. "That glorified shrimp? You're telling me that he killed his own mother?"

Pushing aside the amusing possibilities of Itachi's expression if Kushina ever called him 'a glorified shrimp' to his face, Sarutobi nodded sombrely. "Her, and the rest of his clan. As I said, only young Sasuke survived...after a bout of torture via genjutsu..."

"Must've been a pretty bad one..." Kushina mused quietly, her violet eyes flickering over to the window.

_'You have no idea' _Sarutobi thought sadly. If Kushina knew what had truly happened that night...Mikoto might have no longer called herself Kushina's friend (something that the kage had a feeling was more to do with Fugaku's strict control over his clan than having any grievances about the Kyuubi herself) but loyalty ran deep in the Uzumaki clan, and Sarutobi wouldn't be surprised if Kushina hunted down Itachi to show him precisely why messing with the friends of an Uzumaki was a Bad Idea.

"Always knew that brat was trouble," Kushina muttered, before a smug look broke over her face. "All the more reason to leave, if that's the sort of ninja you're turning out."

Seeing that he was making no progress, Sarutobi tried another front.

"But, Kushina! Even if this is not your home, it is Naruto's! What if he comes back, and you're not here?"

Kushina laughed coldly, managing to look dignified even as she struggled to stand on legs with atrophied muscles. "Right now, my son is out of Orochimaru's clutches, but we both know that snake isn't going to give up so easily. So I'm going to look for my son, I am going to tell him everything, and I will take him somewhere that does not sneer at him for saving them."

Sarutobi stiffened. "Another village, Kushina?"

"I am not a Konoha shinobi, Sarutobi. I was merely a Whirlpool ninja on loan from my country. As my true village no longer exists, any contract I have with Konoha is null and void, including the office of ANBU captain. Oh, by all means, you can imprison me, place me in the bingo book, or try and detain me in some other way. But at least I can comfort myself with the knowledge that none of it is legal, and that if you do that, you'll be violating every promise you ever made to Minato when he asked you to make sure that Naruto was safe."

It would have been a very simple matter for Sarutobi to do what Kushina had mockingly suggested - he could have called in the medics, summoned the ANBU, or even just shoved her - in Kushina's weakened state, she coldn't take a blow from a squirrel, never mind a shinobi like Sarutobi. But he didn't. Instead, he just watched her hobble out of the door, silently wondering just when things had spun so far out of his control.

* * *

Panting, Naruto looked around the camp, his lips curved in a vicious smile. He had known that he was capable of great destruction, but even so, he was pleasantly surprised at the results of his little battle.

Every single bandit lay dead, their blank eyes still holding some traces of the shock that they had felt, that outrage in the fact that two children, who by all rights should have been cowering before them, had just exterminated them like the rats they were, unworthy of even been given dignified, orderly deaths. Naruto had not been careful about how he killed them, instead, he had just blown through them with whatever he could.

Some corpses had long, thin gouges in them from where Naruto's threads had torn through them. Some had been stabbed with their own metal weapons. Some had been shredded with Naruto's scaly weapon. Some had been sliced, stabbed or crushed by the puppets. Some had been dismembered by paper weapons. However, the overwhelming majority had been simply blown to bits, odd bits of bodies scattered everywhere.

Of course, it would be unfair to say that he had done it alone. Despite her reluctance to use the human puppets, Sayuri had done pretty well, the puppets under her command darting in, killing, and moving out before the enemy had a chance to react, and he hadn't got out of it unscathed either - his sides were throbbing from several blows that would have broken his ribs if he hadn't stepped back in time, and there was an already healing stab wound on his leg - but it had been Naruto who had killed the majority, and he was feeling quite pleased with himself about it.

Sayuri let her puppets drop to the floor, and looked up at him tiredly. "Nii-san, are we done?"

Naruto nodded, glancing around. None of the bodies were moving, and the women had all gone, fleeing into the trees as soon as the bandits became preoccupied with the fight. "Yeah, I think so. I don't think there's any left alive..."

"There's not." Naruto glanced over at the sole remaining clone. He had been quite pleased with this jutsu. The clones had been able to utilize all his powers, and could apparently think and work together, but they unfortunately vanished after one solid hit. However, in light of the rest of the jutsu's qualities, he could see this become an often-used jutsu of his.

Sayuri, now bored, decided to get rid of the clone, and kicked it hard in the shins. It vanished in a puff of smoke, and Naruto whirled around. "Hey! You didn't need to kick that hard!"

Sayuri stared at him, confused. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That I kicked him?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but paused as he thought it over. He had been turned away from the clone, and he knew for a fact that Sayuri wouldn't kick him, but he had known for a fact that she had kicked the clone, and could even recall being kicked as if she had done it to him instead.

Hmm. This bore further investigation. But for now, they had some money to collect.

* * *

Moriko stared open-mouthed at the clearing, her breakfast threatening to leap out of her stomach. Never had she seen such carnage, not even with the bandits and their victims.

And the people who had done this...were children.

She glanced at them out of the corner of her eye, her fists clenched. When they had offered to clear out the bandits, she had felt guilty for allowing them to do so, thinking that they were just marching off to their deaths. But the town hadn't needed any more attention, and she hadn't liked what she had thought was the arrogance in the older child's tone.

Only now, she saw that it wasn't arrogance at all. What it was was the knowledge that he could do this, that he was capable of causing a massacre like this. She could see the amusement in his eyes, and she knew that he knew that she had not expected them to return alive.

She stepped away from the corpses, taking a deep breath. The town didn't have a lot of money - oh, sure, they had enough to cover what they owed the kids, but it wouldn't leave them with a lot at the end, and they had been planning on the kids dying against the bandits, leaving them free to keep their money. But the kids hadn't just defeated the bandits, they'd _slaughtered_ them, and she wasn't sure what to do

Moriko knew what the town elders would insist on - give the kids less than half of what they had earned, and if they tried to push it, then beat them off. But looking around, she had a feeling that that would be a very bad idea.

"I'll...just go get your reward."

* * *

Naruto stared in awe at the rows and rows of green notes in front of him. Almost reverently, he reached out and touched the nearest ones, as if trying to assure himself that they were real. To his joy, he felt the crisp texture of money under his fingers, and he sighed happily.

It was as if he had been dying of dehydration, but had stumbled into an oasis at the last minute. To Naruto, nothing could be more peaceful than just standing there, gazing happily at the money he had earned, and there and then, he vowed to himself to make sure that he amassed a great deal more of the precious stuff.

Sayuri coughed, and reluctantly, he tore his gaze away from the cash. "Yes?"

"What are we going to do now?"

Naruto considered this. He didn't really want to hang around the town anymore, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure where else to go. They had money now, and that was a good start, but where should they head off to?

As if in answer, a man walked up to them, his stance hesitant. "Are you the children Moriko-chan was talking about?"

Naruto carefully scanned him. His chakra and general body build suggested that he was a civilian, and he could sense no weapons on him - at least, no metal weapons - and so he decided that it would be safe to talk to him. "Yes."

The man shuffled his feet. "I'm Itsuki. I was wondering if you'd be interested in another job?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, and the man seemed to take that as his cue to continue. "I need to be escorted to Nagani - it's a small town near Kiri, but the trouble is, the team from Kusagakure that were going to come with me still haven't arrived, and I cannot wait any longer. So, I was wondering if you two would want to come with me on this trip? You could sort out anyone who might try and attack us, while I could arrange passage. It wouldn't take long..."

Naruto considered this. It sounded like a good offer - he had no set destination in mind, and helping the man would ensure that there would be a little less ill-will for them in this town should they ever decide to return.

He doubted they would, though. He was not blind, he had seen the cold glances that the villagers had given to them as they handed the money over. Well, that meant nothing to him. He wasn't really planning on returning anyway.

"-and I'll pay you of course!"

Naruto beamed, something that could be mistaken for a sweet, friendly smile were it not for the sharp, pointy teeth it exposed. "Now we're talking!"

* * *

Guren gritted her teeth as she pushed through the shinobi lingering around the halls in one of the Oto bases. She could feel their angry glares burning into her back, and she grimaced. Not because she actually cared for their opinions, but because the harsh looks reminded her too much of the disappointment she had caused her beloved Orochimaru.

Her fists clenched as she remembered how close she had been to becoming one of the chosen, how close she had gotten to achieving the ultimate honour - to give up her body to her master, to surrender her soul to him. When Orochimaru had needed a body, he had wanted her, she had been told, and if she'd only been faster, she could have given it to him.

But she had been too late, and by the time she arrived, Orochimaru had been forced to take an inferior host, a woman whose skills paled next to Guren's. The kunoichi had felt almost physically sick with envy as she stared up at the woman's body with its golden eyes, but that was nothing compared to the horror she felt at the fact that she had failed him - and he knew it too. Disgraced, Guren had been sent to another far-away base, left there to rot until she had redeemed herself in the eyes of Orochimaru.

Tiny crystal blades jutted out of her fingers as she closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. Truthfully, the blame could not be completely laid at her feet. No, surely some of it belonged to Orochimaru's original host, the one who was meant to be graced with her master's spirit, the one who had mocked the honour and spat in Orochimaru's face when he fled Otogakure.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Guren frowned as she thought of the boy. In her own way, she had become almost fond of him, feeling proud when he had grown stronger under her tutelage. She had been looking forward to seeing him reincarnated as Orochimaru, despite her envy. But now he was gone, and the disgrace had been passed on to her.

Well, not for long. Guren's eyes narrowed in determination. She would retrieve Naruto, and Orochimaru would take over his body, and she would regain the Sannin's trust. True, she didn't know where Naruto was, but she was sure that she could find him. She had to.

* * *

Naruto grimaced as he felt water drip down his collar from the canopy of leaves above his head. It had rained last night, rained heavily, and even though it had since cleared up, errant raindrops that had got caught in the leaves were still falling on them.

Sayuri was being very quiet, just trotting at his heels like a golden puppy, looking nervously at Itsuki from over her shoulder. Not very trustful of adults after her time in Oto, the puppet seemed to be expecting the man to attack them at any moment, and kept an eye on him at all times, despite the fact that she could probably break him without much trouble at all. The man hadn't seemed to pick up on this, and was chatting to her animatedly about various bits of nonsense that Naruto couldn't care less about. However, he did seem wary of Naruto himself, something that the older blonde was glad about.

Sighing, the jinchuuriki squinted up at the sunlight filtering through the darkness of the leaves, calculating how much daytime they had left. Judging from the rapidly darkening sky up above him, he doubted that they had long until night would fall. While he and Sayuri would happily keep on walking (living in the darkness of Otogakure had not only desensitised them to being scared of the dark, but also installed within them a pressing need to keep on running and put as much distance between it as they could) Itsuki insisted on stopping for the night - and they were further burdened by the fact that the man insisted on sleeping in a tent, which took more time to pitch up, as well as the cart that was being drawn by an old donkey that even Sayuri would be able to outrun.

Sayuri, sensing his frustration, nodded at her arm, which had the scrolls sealed inside. "Shall we study more tonight, nii-san?"

Naruto nodded, a smile crossing his features at the thought. Training was the one thing he'd enjoyed at Oto, and he intended to keep it up - not only would they look at the scrolls, but he intended to try out his taijutsu and kenjutsu, while Sayuri needed to get faster, both with her puppets and her own body. Yes, they had a lot of work ahead of them.

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted as he heard a twig snap. Stiffening, he fell into a stance, his eyes scanning the shadowy tree-tops for a flicker of chakra.

Sayuri and Itsuki stared at him, the puppet-user torn between her natural 'younger-sister-adoration' and her 'is-he-getting-a-bit-too-paranoid?' sense. "Nii-san-"

There came the sound of footsteps, and four people landed in front of them. Naruto gave Sayuri a smug look before turning to look at the new arrivals, trying to judge if they were a threat.

There was a short, muscular man with greying black hair, two identical boys with dark skin and wild mops of straw-coloured hair, and a girl that stood behind them nervously. She caught Naruto's attention because of her strange appearance. She had wine-red eyes and hair, but one side of her hair was neatly combed, while the other was wild, sticking up in all different directions. A pair of glasses shielded her eyes with thick glass, and she peered at him curiously, as if she didn't know what to make of him.

Itsuki cleared his throat - unlike his younger companions, he had never learned to fear ninjas, being rather isolated from shinobi apart from the occasional mission that crossed their path with his - and looked enquiringly at the quartet. "May we help you?"

One of the boys sighed impatiently, and the older ninja shot him a look before turning back to Itsuki. "We're the Kusagakure team that I believe _you_ hired, Itsuki-san. One C-rank mission, a trip from the town of Kawa to Nagani?"

Itsuki nodded, but the annoyed expression on his face did not leave. "I received notice from Kusa that they could not spare any ninja for the mission, and so I would have to take the trip alone."

The ninja shrugged. "A space was freed in our schedule, and it was decided that we could accompany you for this. Unless, of course, you decide to reject the team?"

Itsuki's face cleared. "No, no, of course not! I was just surprised at your appearance, that was all."

The ninja nodded, before looking over at Sayuri and Naruto, both of whom looked back stoically. "You didn't mention that we would be accompanying three instead of one."

Itsuki's eyes flickered over the two children with him, before turning back to the ninja. "They were just tagging along. I didn't think that it would make much of a difference as we didn't know you would be coming after all."

The young boys accompanying the older ninja scowled, obviously resenting that this civilian had implied that they would not do their mission despite all evidence to the contrary. Naruto couldn't help but roll his eyes, wondering how they had expected this to go - were shinobi around here so respected that they expected no complaints for ignoring mission requests and then suddenly taking them up half-way through?

The ninja shrugged. "I suppose that it wouldn't make that much difference. But I suppose we should get moving, if you want to reach Nagani before tomorrow night."

Itsuki nodded, and they all began walking again, Itsuki's footsteps lagging slightly as the long journey began taking its toll, while Naruto tried to ignore the burning stare that the kunoichi of the team was sending into his back.

* * *

When she had set off on this mission, Karin had felt very annoyed. She and her team had all been set to go on a proper mission, off to stand guard over a daimyo's daughter, but the trip she had been going on had been cancelled, the daimyo having decided that his precious girl would do better to stay at home instead under the watchful eye of his samurai. With a lack of any other high-priority missions, they had been sent out here, to a backward little village to guard a single old man and his luggage while he went on a small trip from one boring town to another, and the redhead had not been happy to learn it.

However, it wasn't long before the girl realized that there was something funny about this mission. They had been within a hundred metre radius of their client when she decided to start practicing the Kagura Shingen, the ability being the main reason why she had passed her genin exam - chakra sensors were not extremely rare, but they weren't that common either, and there was no way Kusagakure would have allowed her to languish in the academy a day longer than she had to when she could be out on missions.

However, being a chakra sensor wasn't just something that came with all the benefits straights away. Karin had to learn how to distinguish between signatures, how to recognize which were familiar and which were not, how to tell which were animals and which were humans, how to tell the difference between civilians and ninjas. All of those, she was gradually learning, and she was fairly confident in her ability to recognize each one.

But this time, what she sensed was completely different. The signature was large - not the largest she had ever sensed, but very close to it - and unlike the Kiri shinobi who had claimed the title, the chakra didn't feel calm at all. On the contrary, it reminded her of a maelstrom, swirling and fluctuating with each beat, almost making her dizzy as she stood metres away from it, hidden by rows and rows of large trees. Not only that, but it seemed almost bi-polar to her, switching between an almost lazy warmth that reminded her of a lapping ocean on a sunny day and a chaotic, bone-chilling storm that reeked of an alien malevolence.

Her team had noticed immediately when she stumbled back, shaking in fear from the utter _wrongness _of the signature. When her concerned sensei asked her what was wrong, it had taken the scared girl a while to be able to put what she had sensed into words, and even then, her team were rather sceptical. They all knew about kekkei genkais that involved the warping of chakra, about villages far away that had sought to use items that could force alien chakra through their coils, and Karin had even heard rumours, muttered by the elderly ex-shinobi that squatted in the tea-houses of Kusa, about people who, in the Great Shinobi Wars, had decimated entire battlefields by themselves by use of strange entities inside them.

But while such creatures did exist, not only was the likelihood of running into them in a territory that was between an ordinary civilian town and the peaceful Kusagakure almost non-existent, people with such dark chakra tended to be bent on destruction - and as far as they could tell, there was nothing causing trouble up ahead, and Ataru-sensei was a skilled enough jounin to tell if there was a genjutsu blinding them to a threat as large as the one the chakra seemed to come from. Add that to the fact that Karin had made mistakes before about her sensor abilities, and the team was rather disinclined to believe that there was truly something so terrible up ahead.

But they were ninja, and no good ninja dismissed a threat, even if they were pretty sure it wasn't real. So the team had advanced cautiously, keeping their eyes peeled for trouble as they approached their client. Karin was on tenterhooks, not sure whether she wanted to be proven right or wrong, and beginning to doubt whether she had imagined the threat entirely, something that became easier to do when she shut down her Kagura Shingen to conserve energy.

Staring at the three people who were walking ahead of them, she still didn't know the answer.

Her teammates had shot her exasperated looks when they found the old man and the two children standing by the merchant's cart. None of them had made any threatening moves, though the merchant had been quite ungrateful that they came to complete their mission at all, and they were currently making good time, sure to reach their destination before tomorrow's nightfall easily. But that chakra, that terrifying, gut-wrenching chakra hadn't disappeared, and though her team seemed dismissive of her fears, she just knew that it was the clients of this mission who were responsible.

The man, she dismissed right away. He matched up to the description Kusa had given them of their original client, and his chakra was placid, docile. He was not a ninja, and even if he was, she doubted he could even imagine the cold chakra she had felt. But that left the two children walking next to him, and though Karin didn't really want to admit it, both made her feel quite nervous.

The little girl was pretty, reminding Karin of a doll with her china-blue eyes and long golden hair. But the way she walked, though at a fast pace (almost too fast for such a small child) seemed a bit...stiff for the lack of a better word, and though Karin could barely sense her chakra, it was there - wound tight as a spool of thread - and besides, the girl was far too young to be an active ninja, unless she was one of the freaky little prodigies that only came along once every generation or so.

Dismissing the child, she focused on the boy.

He was about the same age as her, but bigger, his lean form at least a head taller than her. His hair was a silvery-blonde shade she had never seen before, and it was long too, the strands covering both his neck and his eyes. His outfit looked like a shinobi's, but she knew that plenty of civilians thought it was cool to dress up as ninja, and so that didn't indicate that he was necessarily a shinobi - but his guarded stance and muscled limbs left her doubting that he was a civilian.

A slight blush darkened the redhead's cheeks as she looked at his face. The skin on his face was dirtied with mud, probably from doing some civilian activity, but despite that, she could see the delicate lines cutting through his cheeks, which, added to his hair, gave him a mysterious, exotic look that she had never seen before. His body was well-muscled for his age, and though she couldn't see his eyes, she could imagine them to be of a beautiful, bright hue. Already the type to swap toys for boys, it was very difficult for Karin to tear her eyes away from his form, part of her murmuring that surely someone who was _almost _better-looking than Junichi-kun (the prodigy of Kusagakure and the focus of its very large fanclub) couldn't be bad?

Still, despite her doubts and suspicions, there was only one way to be sure. Slowly, she let her footsteps lag, until she was drifting behind everyone else, close enough to the group for Ataru-sensei to not scold her about keeping up, but behind enough so that when she tilted her head, letting her hair fall over her eyes, no one noticed her concentrating to perform her jutsu.

The world around her spun into the familiar glow of the Kagen Shingen, and she relaxed as she straightened up, feeling far more at ease in this environment. The familiar chakra of her team shone out, and she let her eyes flicker past it, searching for the strange boy-

Karin stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide. Dimly, she could hear Ataru calling her name, but he sounded far off, and even if she had been paying attention, she wouldn't have been able to answer. There seemed to be nothing she could focus on now, nothing except that chakra.

Oh.

Kami.

The boy's chakra did not flow smoothly like the chakra of anyone else Karin had ever seen. Instead, it swirled around him in a maelstrom of energy, his actual body almost completely obscured by it. Not only that, but it didn't just flow in one direction like the chakra of everyone else she had ever seen. Instead, it clashed and twisted, some parts wild and fast, others moving in slow ripples. It was almost as if someone had taken the chakra of several different people and meshed them together...but even then, it wouldn't explain why the chakra was so chaotic, so...sinister.

And the colours...

The chakra outlining the blonde was a rich blue, a normal colour, albeit the brightest shade Karin had ever seen. But that was where the normalcy ended. Spreading out from the centre of his body were long filaments of red, a web of crimson chakra that stained the area around it, turning it a smoky indigo colour. The chakra was a vivid crimson, an intense hue she had never seen before, and yet...

It was dark. She could feel even from where she was standing; at such a close proximity, the evil reeking from the chakra was almost overpowering. She had never thought of chakra as being a separate entity from those who wielded it, but that chakra was definitely malicious - it seemed to scream of bloodlust and hate, of a twisted desire for destruction and death. The dark red of its chakra wasn't the warmth of an evening fire, it was the scorching blaze of the sun.

It was burning her eyes...

But that wasn't the worst of it.

At the very centre of the web, like a shadowy spider, there was a large orb of chakra, a chakra that was pitch-black. And Karin knew, just by looking at it, that compared to whatever the hell this was, the red chakra was nothing. This thing was far worse, for she didn't just sense bloodlust from this thing, but a terrible, alien intelligence that felt...cold, for the want of a better word, as cold as the lake in Kusagakure in winter, and as she watched in horror, the blackness began to spread, slithering up the red strands, darkening them as it went.

'_This guy...he's a **monster**...'_

Blackness seemed to drift across her vision as well, and her mind was screaming for her to look away, she couldn't. She was riveted to the spot, watching in fascinated horror as the swirling blackness enveloped her vision...

And then she was lost.

* * *

Naruto turned around, perplexed, as the redheaded girl he'd sensed eyeing his back fainted. Itsuki looked on in concern, while her team-mates sighed in irritation, and scooped her off the ground.

Sayuri stared at the unconscious girl, now slung over her sensei's shoulder. "Does she do that a lot?"

One of the boys snorted. "Not a lot, but too often for her to be reliable. She's dead-weight really...everyone knows that if it wasn't for her kekkei genkai, she'd never have passed the genin exam-"

"That's enough, Kensuke," the older ninja said sharply, though Naruto had a feeling that it was more to do with the fact that his student had blabbed about his teammate's abilities in front of strangers rather than any concern for the girl. "Karin seems to have been in the sun a little too long. We'll get to the town as soon as possible, and then get her back to Kusa."

Itsuki seemed satisfied by this, and turned back to the front. Naruto was about to do the same, but then paused, and turned to Sayuri. "Sayuri-chan, do I have anything on my back?"

Frowning, the girl leaned forward, examining the back of his shirt from every angle. Eventually, she pulled back, shaking her head. "I can't see anything, nii-san. Why did you ask, anyway?"

"...No reason."

* * *

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, except for when the girl woke up. Her state of consciousness had remained for about three seconds, until she caught sight of Naruto, squealed in fear, and then collapsed again. Naruto was now beginning to get severely irritated with the redhead - he had had enough of being feared in both Konoha and Oto. He didn't need more of it from a weird girl who couldn't keep her eyes off him.

Thankfully, the town they were heading towards wasn't really that far away, and they arrived in the next morning. The team from Kusagakure quickly bid them farewell, while Itsuki lingered, looking at them in concern. "Have you got a place to go to?"

"Yes," Naruto lied. "We're meeting up with our sensei."

Itsuki still looked unsure, but handed over the money (which was quickly stored in Naruto's pocket) before wandering off with his wares. Naruto then turned to Sayuri, his rippled eyes gleaming. "So. What do you want to do now?"

Sayuri shrugged. "I don't mind."

Naruto considered for a moment. They had to get supplies, obviously, and probably a map - he had no idea about the general area after all, which he had to if he wanted to keep avoiding Oto ninjas. Oh, and he should probably see about-

And that was when the aroma hit him.

Naruto's stomach growled happily in remembrance as the boy slowly turned around, memories flooding back to him. Memories of a time when some people were kind to him, memories of a warm place where he was welcome, but most of all, memories of a culinary delight, of a sweet, sweet delight that must have fallen from heaven itself-

Sayuri watched in confusion (something she seemed to be a lot around Naruto) as he stared vacantly beyond her shoulder. Turning around, she looked for whatever it was that had caused him to be like that. But there seemed to be nothing there. Just a ramen stand...

That Naruto had just moved at what seemed to be the speed of light to sit at. As Sayuri watched in disbelief, Naruto proceeded to devour four whole bowels of miso ramen at a speed that made her feel nauseous, and then proceeded to ask for a fifth. It was at this point that the puppet came to her senses, and she lunged for the older boy, trying desperately to stop him from spending every ryo they had on ramen of all things. So busy were they, Sayuri in trying to stop him, and Naruto in trying to reach the bowels, that neither of them noticed that they were being watched.

* * *

The ninja had no name. He was a plain man, with short brown hair and dull grey eyes. He had no scars apart from a small red line on his thumb, a souvenir of the many times he had performed a summoning. His clothes, while typical shinobi wear, had a second-hand air about them, and looked as if they had been made in some cheap factory. His weapons consisted of a tip-less tanto, and a handful of shuriken, nestled in a pouch at his hip. In fact, there was only one thing that could make him stand out - the thick black bars on his tongue that formed the seal of ROOT.

The ninja had no name. He didn't need one. His mission was to serve Danzo in any way possible, and one did not need a name for that, apart from infiltration missions, upon which they would receive a temporary code-name. However, this was not an infiltration mission. This was a retrieval mission, the retrieval of Konoha's weapon.

It was a stroke of luck, really, that they had found the child so soon - having stopped off to get some food, the ROOT shinobi, who had been out on another mission and only received their orders by radio that afternoon, had been as shocked as they could be to find that the target described to them by Danzo-sama, who had managed to learn about it from another source. But they had adapted quickly, and a trap had been set.

Leaning forward, the ninja watched as the silvery-blonde boy squabbled with the small child, their conversation muffled by the background noise of the busy town. But that didn't matter. After all, it was not words that would capture the child - it was his jutsus that would, and he had plenty of those. However, now was not the place to use them. There were too many people, too many witnesses. He'd never be able to drag the boy off without causing a huge ruckus, a ruckus that could cause problems for Danzo-sama.

But that was fine. He would just wait. After all, his opponent was just a child. He and his team (five shinobi, a cell of elites) would be more than enough to handle any tricks Uzumaki had up his sleeves.

* * *

Takeshi shivered as he pulled the material of his thin jacket around himself, the damp air doing nothing to alleviate the fact that he was slowly freezing to death. He had no money, no hope of shelter, and he was feeling quite miserable about it all. Scowling as he felt a bead water trickle down his neck, signalling the beginning of a shower, the blue-head began looking about for a place for him to sit down and sulk about life in general. While he was normally quite a cheerful joker, he felt that, considering the circumstances, a want to act like the gloomy kids that had skulked around in the dark corners of the academy could be overlooked.

Sadly, Takeshi never did get to indulge in his little pity-party. For, in his haste to find a place to hunker down for the night, he unwittingly walked down a dark alleyway.

It only took a few seconds for him to realize what an idiot he had been and turn around, but by the time he had, the man lounging in the shadows had already stepped out into the dim moonlight, the blade in his hand gleaming dully.

The man wore ragged clothes, and the smell coming off him - a nasty mix of alcohol and the stench of public toilets - was none too pleasant either, but the thing that Takeshi noticed most was the desperate glint in his eye. Maybe this man was a typical nutcase, maybe he was just a starving homeless who wasn't going to listen to reason; either way, it was quite clear about his intentions. And while Takeshi might not have anything worth stealing on him, he certainly didn't like the thought of having a knife rammed into him. If he wanted to be gutted, he would have stayed in Kiri.

He shifted into his normal taijutsu stance, hoping that the man would get the hint and back off. Unfortunately, judging from the angry slurred sentences spilling from the man's cracked lips, it seemed that he was too intoxicated to care about anything else other than...whatever it was that he wanted.

Well, that suited Takeshi fine. He might not have completed his full Academy training, but he had only missed out on the last month or so, which really was just a stream of field trips to the abattoir and similar places to make sure that they would be able to stomach the kills that would be sure to accumulate once they made genin. However, while Takeshi didn't think that he'd mind killing, especially when it came to his own teachers, there was no need to kill this man. Just a simple chop to the head should do it…

And that was when the bag fell from the sky and smacked the man on the head, dropping him to the ground instantly. Takeshi blinked, wondering if the lack of food was making him hallucinate. The theory seemed plausible, for as he watched in disbelief, two kids came around the corner, a little younger than him. One was a small girl with curly blonde hair, who was looking quite smug about something. The other was a boy with spiky silvery-blonde, who stalked over to the bag lying on the ground, sparing not even a glance at the man it had struck, and picked it up carefully, peering inside.

"Hah! They didn't break" The girl folded her arms, looking annoyed. "It doesn't matter! I still don't think you should have spent so much on them, nii-san."

The boy waved a hand dismissively, shouldering the bag. "Don't be silly. We have everything else that we need."

Takeshi, now getting very confused, stepped backwards, his foot splashing into a puddle as he did so. The sound was quiet, but it was enough to distract the two from their bickering. The boy spun around to look at him, and Takeshi gasped.

He couldn't help himself. After months of being shut up in a cell, months of hiding in his own village, days of being on the run, and all because of his kekkei genkai - and this boy was just walking around with what was unmistakably a dojutsu, in a town that was barely a few days of civilian walk from Kirigakure.

Was he _insane_?

* * *

Naruto's time in the town had been useful. There were a lot of ninja milling around, some of them that looked like genin, so two children wandering around buying shinobi gear was not thought to be odd at all, though he had seen people giving them some funny looks whenever he looked them in the eye. Oh well, it couldn't be helped.

They had managed to get everything that Naruto thought they might need - plenty of kunai and senbon, material to both repair and create puppets, paper and ink for scrolls, several jars of clay that they had got from an arts and crafts store, some medical supplies, soldier pills (he had hated taking them when Kabuto doled them out to him, but he knew how useful they could be) a map of the region, a full cosmetic kit (genjutsu masters could create complex henges that were undetectable by all except Kage-level shinobi, but the rest of the population with poorer genjutsu skills could instead use the physical approach) and some plain grey clothes that were none the less tough enough to survive the colder seasons that Naruto knew were approaching. All in all, he was quite pleased with what they had, and was sure that, if needed, they could make more money.

So why Sayuri was so shocked at him buying a few dozen cartons of ramen, he had no idea. All he knew was that they had tussled over the bag, he had grabbed it, and in a fit of temper, Sayuri had used a chakra string to hurl the bag through the air, where it had landed in the alley.

Though it had been the closest they had come to a proper argument, it had actually been just general teasing - or, at least, the closest that either of them had had to the playful teasing of siblings. Naruto had been in a fairly good mood as he hunted down the bag of precious ramen. Only now, as he stared at the older boy who was looking at him suspiciously, he felt his good mood evaporate into thin air.

Takeshi himself was feeling very nervous about the way the other boy was staring at him. There was something markedly hostile about that gaze, like a wolf staring down a rabbit, and it was helped in no way by those eerie rippled eyes. Seriously, what type of dojutsu was that? Being the son of a Swordsman had seen Takeshi being dragged to a lot of diplomatic meetings between clans as a reminder that the Chiseigyokis were flourishing quite well, and he was pretty sure that he knew nearly every kekkei genkai wielder in Kiri.

This boy was not one of them.

But that beggared the question of just who he was, and what he was doing here. Surely anyone with a kekkei genkai wouldn't want to come anywhere near Kiri? Even people with unusual appearances were avoiding it, in case they got swept up in the bloodline purges. So, why had this guy showed up?

Naruto meanwhile was studying the stranger intently, feeling very concerned over the strange look the boy was sending him. It was not implausible, Orochimaru sending someone so young after him - there were many, many modifications this boy could have had to bring him up and beyond Naruto's own level. He didn't recognize him, but that meant nothing - there were dozens of new arrivals in the Oto base he had stayed at almost every day, and there were loads of bases in the five nations. On the other hand, Orochimaru would surely have given a description of Naruto to anyone he sent after him - and there was no recognition in the blue-haired's gaze, just wariness and confusion.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked quietly, shooting a look at Sayuri out of the corner of his eye. She slid her right sleeve up a few inches, freeing her hand to make it easy to slip out the saw hidden in it if she needed to, while a chakra thread, so dim that Naruto's dojutsu could barely see it, snaked its way to the boy's feet without him noticing.

If this guy had been sent by Orochimaru - it might be a bit self-absorbed, thinking that just because someone looked at him, they were after him, but paranoia had served Naruto well before - then they wouldn't go down without a fight.

However, though the boy's eyes had narrowed at his question, so far, he had made no hostile movements. In fact, he looked quite wary.

"I'm…Takeshi."

Inwardly, Takeshi cursed himself. He should have given a fake first name - if this guy was some sort of Kiri spy, possibly one who had sold out other kekkei genkai users in the hope of being left alone, it definitely wouldn't be hard to figure out who he was. But planning on his feet wasn't his strong suit…eh, make that planning at all.

Well, even if he didn't recognize the dojutsu, it was possible that he could have heard the name somewhere. And if he knew the name, he might know some weaknesses.

Alright, it was a long shot, but what did he have to lose?

"Who are you?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Uzumaki Naruto." It might be foolish, giving his name to this Takeshi, but if he showed the slightest sign of recognition-

But Takeshi only looked puzzled, though still suspicious. "Okay…"

Despite his expression, Takeshi couldn't shake off the feeling that he'd heard 'Uzumaki' before. The name Naruto was unfamiliar to him, but he was pretty sure he'd heard the surname from somewhere before. But the memory was fuzzy, and he couldn't pin it down, no matter how hard he tried.

Shaking it off, he nodded at the man slumped on the ground. "Thanks for helping me out there, by the way."

The little girl spoke for the first time, her fingers tapping against her leg. "What do you mean?"

"The guy tried to…and you…oh, never mind." Takeshi was slowly beginning to relax. Standing around and chatting with your victims wasn't the Kirigakure way. They either charged right in or conjured up some mist and did it silently. But they didn't just indulge in semi-friendly conversations.

Naruto glanced up at the now dark sky. They still had enough money left for a hotel room for the night. After that, they would move on again, and find something else. Takeshi didn't seem to be a threat, and so he turned away with a shrug. "You're welcome…for whatever we did."

Takeshi nodded, already trying to think of a place to spend the night once the two were gone. It was a pity - it had been a long time since he'd had a chance to talk with someone outside a prison cell, and to be honest, he envied them a bit - they clearly had a plan, a place to go.

He had nothing.

But he knew he would have to get used to it, and so he turned around as well, ready to walk off in another direction.

But then it happened.

* * *

The ROOT shinobi were all in position, subtly crouching in the shadows as they observed their target conversing with two other children. The other two meant nothing to them. They were neither targets nor allies, they were only there. But witnesses could not be allowed to talk, could not be allowed to say how foreign ninja had snatched a boy from a town near Kiri, no matter if they could not identify which village they were from.

They had to be eliminated.

The alley that the three were talking in was long and narrow, not really ideal for flinging jutsus around in. But from what they had observed of the target, he seemed to be in no particular hurry to leave the town, and appeared to have the money to stay, at least for a little while. ROOT, however, had a deadline that had to be met. Missions could not be extended for too long, not even for such a prize as the Kyuubi. They had to snatch him, and soon, and this was the best chance they would get for a while. Just three children, and no one else near enough to hear them.

It would easy.

Sayuri was three steps ahead of him when the ninja dropped down on her back, knocking her to the floor. She gave a muffled cry of protest, which was silenced as the ninja grasped her head and jerked it sideways, in a manner that would have snapped her neck if she was a normal human.

Naruto was already moving the second the ninja touched Sayuri's back, but before he could reach her, two more ninja dropped to the floor of the alley, boxing him in back to back with Takeshi. Naruto spotted a panicked look on the latter's face, and wondered briefly what was going on. However, that thought vanished under the urgent need to deal with his attackers and find out why the fuck they had chosen to attack in the first place!

Black threads shot out of his body in a rippling black wave, and he heard Takeshi gasp behind him. He bared his teeth at the ninja - something that had never failed to get at least a disturbed reaction out of his opponents in Oto - but to his disappointment, they didn't so much as raise an eyebrow. Instead, the first ninja, stepping off Sayuri's 'corpse' spoke in a monotone.

"Uzumaki Naruto. You are hereby ordered to come with us."

Naruto stared at them incredulously. After they had just tried to kill Sayuri, and were even now drawing the tantos slung on their backs, did they really think that he would just come with them? Apparently so.

Next to him, Takeshi twisted around, staring at him. "They're after _you_?"

"Apparently!" Naruto snapped. He glared at the ninja. "Who are you?"

"We have no names," the ninja said, his monotone really beginning to get on Naruto's nerves. "We are ROOT."

"You are _what?"_

The ninja standing directly in front of Naruto shook his head, his face completely apathetic.

"You do not need to know more about what we are. We have been sent to retrieve Konoha's weapon."

A flare of bitterness flared up in Naruto at the mention of Konoha, along with no small amount of confusion. Konoha's weapon? What were they talking about-

He froze.

_Kyuubi._

_Jinchuuriki._

_**Him**__._

Naruto closed his eyes, his fingers curling into fists. Then they snapped open, and the ninja actually took a step back, because the once silvery-blue eyes were now a vivid crimson, the tomoe in them seeming to spin as he glared at them.

"_I am not," _he bit out, each word heavy with the fury he felt, _"Konoha's __**weapon!"**_

_**

* * *

**_

Three shinobi against three children did not sound like a fair fight at all. But the scales were not completely tipped in favour of the ROOT ninja.

Naruto might not have been taught any jutsus, but he had been trained from a young age by Oto's best in taijutsu and kenjutsu. Sayuri was very young, but her hardy body, and the precise chakra control that let her use her puppets just as effectively as someone twice her age lent her an edge in the fight.

As for Takeshi, Kiri's training of their ninja was different than Konoha's. They were given no lessons in reading or writing, those well-off enough to need it having to hire tutors, nor etiquette, nor was there much focus on genjutsu - Kirigakure had more people who wanted to be shinobi than Konoha, meaning that they could afford to have a 'sink or swim' philosophy. If a shinobi then wanted to 'branch out' from what they were taught, they would have to learn on their own, or persuade another shinobi to teach them.

It was a flawed system, far from perfect, but it did allow the Kiri Academy students to focus on ninjutsu and kenjutsu that were far more advanced than what other villages learned - while Konoha students were fumbling through clones, Kiri shinobi were learning about nature manipulation and beginning to master weapons most Konoha shinobi didn't touch until they were genin.

There also happened to be the fact that ROOT tended to be second-hand shinobi, not having access to the sort of training and weapons that legitimate organizations in Konoha were able to receive. The whole purpose of ROOT was to be in the shadows, and they couldn't go unnoticed if their numbers included shinobi of Hatake Kakashi's calibre.

But even so, it was still three children against three experienced shinobi. Perhaps Naruto, if he drew on the Kyuubi and every power he knew, could have shredded them, but it would not have been without cost - if the ninja didn't kill Sayuri and Takeshi, being so close to Naruto when he drew out enough demonic chakra to massacre trained shinobi three times his age was a death sentence in itself.

However, Naruto didn't know all of his powers.

* * *

Naruto didn't think that he'd ever been this angry.

Konoha had treated him as a pariah, someone unworthy of being recognized as one of them, despite the fact that if it wasn't for him, the village would be nothing more than a smear in the ground, another victory for the Kyuubi. They had sent him straight into the jaws of Hell, allowed him to be experimented on like a lab rat, rejected him completely-

And now?

They had just attacked probably the person closest to him in the world, the person that he would always feel compelled to care for and protect because of what he had been forced to do. The fact that Sayuri was a small child had not appeared to even register in their minds when they tried to snap her neck. And then they had the gall to demand that he return to Konoha, to be an obedient little weapon for the village that had scorned him from the day of his birth.

The ninja that had just stepped off Sayuri's body gave a shout of alarm as her arm suddenly whipped around, metal claws glinting in the gaps between her fingers. A quick flip backwards had the ninja out of danger, but it also gave Sayuri a chance to roll to Naruto's side, where she quickly crouched next to him, glaring at the men.

Despite the fact that little girls normally do not get up again moments after their necks have been broken, the ninja seemed to be completely calm at Sayuri's movement. The tallest of them drew his tanto and nodded at her. "Kill her and the other boy. We only need the jinchuuriki."

At this threat, anger seemed to build up inside Naruto, his rage at Konoha combining with his need to protect both himself and others. He could actually feel the energy spawned by his anger convalesce in the chakra coils in his wrist, feel it overpowering his conscious thought - but at the same time, give him crystal-clear clarity on what he had to do.

Feeling as if he was in a trance, Naruto slowly raised his hand, his palm facing the ninja. A voice that didn't sound like his own echoed in the eerily quiet alley.

"_Shinra Tensei!"_

* * *

Takeshi had been very confused when the shinobi showed up. He had expected them to be after him, and was justifiably confused when they instead turned their attention to a boy he had only just met, a boy who had shown no fear in looking at Takeshi with his dojutsu active, as if he had no idea that there were hunter-nins seeking people like them even as they spoke.

That was what he had thought the strange ninja were at first - a division of hunter-nins sent to hunt down a specific kekkei genkai. There had been a few of those squads, assigned to deal with certain clans that would have demolished most kinds of opponents. But to his shock, they were actually from Konoha - and were apparently trying to retrieve their 'weapon.'

Well, that could have been anything - a kekkei genkai, a hostage, even the sword that was slung across Naruto's back, which had set alarm bells ringing in Takeshi's mind the moment he saw it, though his brain still couldn't figure out why. But then they mentioned that word again.

_Jinchuuriki._

Takeshi was no closer to figuring out what the word meant that when he left Kirigakure. But whatever it was, it seemed to be highly sought-after, both by the man in Kiri and now these guys. He had hoped that either the men or Naruto would have given a hint about what the word meant, but no such luck. Either way, the word seemed to be linked to Naruto - and he wasn't happy about being asked to come back to Konoha on account of it.

Realizing that there was going to be a fight, Takeshi had began to quietly work through hand-seals. Suiton was the normal affinity for Kirigakure shinobi, but there had been a few exceptions, and he had been one of them. His affinity was for Raiton jutsus, and though his teachers had pounded some control over water into him, his uncle had taught him some Raiton techniques over the years, and his mastery over them was a lot better than his Suiton techniques.

Even so, he wasn't holding out much hope that they could defeat these guys. Unless either of his 'allies' had a powerful trick up their sleeves, they were pretty much done for.

But then Naruto had held up his hand, and Takeshi had felt a flare of hope, that perhaps the boy actually did know a jutsu that could get them out of this, perhaps a teleporting ninjutsu or something that could throw these ninja off balance?

The latter guess was closer - but it was far, far more than Takeshi could ever have imagined.

There was a quiet rumbling noise, the only warning the men received. Then, an enormous cloud of dust exploded into the air, obscuring the Chiseigyoki's vision, while a noise that sounded like a cross between an activated exploding tag and a snail being stepped on boomed so loudly, Takeshi was willing to bet that they had heard it in Iwa.

Once the ringing in his ears had faded, he waited for a few seconds, before slowly opening his eyes.

"_Oh my Kami…"_

Where the ninja had been standing, there was nothing left. Literally, nothing. A shallow crater seemed to have been scooped into the earth, skinning away the stone cobbles and leaving a gaping wound of wet dirt, with pools of suspicious red liquid.

But that wasn't all of it.

The back of the alley had been blown out too, leaving a clear trail of destruction that ranged about fifteen kilometres from what Takeshi could see. Where tall buildings had once stood, there was nothing but masses of crumbled stone and splinted wood, smoke was rising into the air, and he thought that he could make out bloodied limbs sticking out from under the rubble.

Feeling sick, he turned to look at the one who had caused it all.

Naruto was standing in the middle of the alley, just in front of the beginning of the destruction, his arm still outstretched. His eyes were wide as he looked at the destruction - and that was what scared Takeshi most of all. Because that suggested that he hadn't meant to do it, that it had just happened, like the time he had performed a Raiton jutsu that had ended up burning the fish he was trying to simply cook to a crisp. And if so, that probably meant that it was either Naruto's first time in performing whatever jutsu that was, or he was simply untrained in its use.

And if he had caused that much destruction from a simple accident.

Just what could he do once he had mastered its use?

But that was a thought for another time. Already, panicked cries were beginning to fill the air, as well as pained groans from those trapped under the rubble. This sort of destruction, sudden but devastating, tended to only be caused by ninja - and in a town so close to Kiri, the town would soon be crawling with hunter-nins trying to find out if it was linked to the fugitive kekkei-genkai wielders.

All three of them had to get out _right now._

The small girl, who had been crouching behind Naruto, seemed to agree. Reaching up, she tugged on Naruto's arm. "Nii-san! We need to go!"

Nii-san? That was odd - they didn't look like siblings. Perhaps the boy's hair and eyes were all part of the kekkei genkai and hers just hadn't activated yet?

Naruto didn't move, probably still in shock - hell, if Takeshi didn't have first-hand knowledge of what the hunter-nins would do if they found them, he'd probably still be staring at the wreckage as well. As it was, he leaned over, and prodded the boy roughly on the shoulder. "She's right, you know!"

Naruto spun around, so fast that Takeshi nearly fell over, his rippled eyes staring at him intently. Though Naruto was both smaller and younger than the Chiseigyoki, Takeshi had an uncomfortable flashback to the time he had tried to sneak up on his father while the man was trying to take a nap. Though neither of them would ever admit the whole story - Takeshi because of the humiliation, Taishuu because he didn't want to be sleeping on the couch once his beloved wife learned of it - it had involved Takeshi nearly getting skewered by his father's sword, and several bowls of sukiyaki as bribery.

However, Naruto had clearly been woken up from his shock, as he immediately spun around, turning his back on the chaos behind him. "Let's get out of here."

Finding his logic reasonable, the other two followed him as he began sprinting out of the alley, ducking into the crowds that were already forming. People were screaming, rushing about as they headed towards the rubble, some searching frantically for their loved ones, others shifting through the debris to find personal items. It was easy for them to disappear amongst such a chaotic mess, and soon they found themselves outside the town's walls.

The little girl glanced over at Naruto. "Where do we go now?"

Naruto looked around, probably analyzing his options. Takeshi was trying to do the same…but he found himself coming up short for answers. He didn't know the land, and he had no idea how far he'd have to go before the hunter-nins decided it wasn't worth tracking him anymore.

Despite that, he knew he had to get moving - but first, there was something he wanted to know.

"Who were those people? And why did they attack you?"

Naruto looked at him, his expression unreadable. Then he shrugged. "I don't know."

He didn't know? The three of them had been attacked by strange ninja, one of them had nearly been killed (Takeshi's mind was currently doing its best to not focus on the fact that the little girl should be dead) and Naruto had retaliated with something that had destroyed half the town.

And he didn't know _why_?

* * *

Naruto was feeling tired. Whatever that thing was, it had sucked out most of the energy that he had built up in his anger, and he could just barely feel the reminments of it, sluggishly flowing along his chakra coils. Presumably, it would build up again, letting him use that technique again.

The trouble was, he didn't know if he wanted to.

Shooting that power at those ninja had been like trying to wield a fire-hose - certainly enough power to solve his problem, but it had been completely out of his control. His anger at Konoha's nerve had been enough for him to focus the power in those ninjas' direction - but beyond that, he had no bearing on the destruction.

What if it hadn't been enough to control it, though? What if it had turned on him, or Sayuri or Takeshi? (Not that he had the same worries about the blue-head, as, having only just met him, he didn't really feel the same urge to protect as he did with Sayrui). His anger had helped to control it, but getting that angry during a fight that was going badly enough to warrant the technique would not be a good idea.

Well, whether he wanted to learn to control that technique or not, the fact remained, he had to get stronger. Naruto refused to rely on chance reactions from whatever Orochimaru had done to him. If he was going to become even a half-way decent ninja, he wanted to do it on his own merit, not just relying on his kekkei genkai - or whatever the hell it was that he had.

But getting stronger would involve staying undetected, and he had a problem with that in the form of Takeshi. The boy had blue hair, for crying out loud, he couldn't be that hard to track on his own - and once he was found, he could be tortured, and give up information about him and Sayuri.

Realistically, there were two options open to Naruto at this point. First, he could kill Takeshi. He wasn't sure how easy it would be - the stance Takeshi had shifted into when the ninja revealed themselves had proved that he at least had had shinobi training, and Naruto wasn't sure about just how skilled he was - but Naruto couldn't die, and he refused to give up either. Plus, he had Sayuri on his side. The odds were pretty high in his favour.

On the other hand, he could just let Takeshi come with them.

That solution would solve a few problems, but at the same time, create some more. Takeshi was clearly trained to fight, and from the hand-seals he'd been forming, knew at least one ninjutsu as well, ninjutsu that he'd hopefully wouldn't mind teaching. He could prove himself to be an asset - but at the same time, he might prove to be a liability. He might give them away. He might betray them. He might run.

But, at the end of the day, Naruto could at least make the offer. Just tearing people apart before they had even proved themselves to be hostile, much less a threat, was Orochimaru's thing, not his. He would happily rip through those who tried to threaten him, or people like the Otogakure shinobi (by agreeing to fight under Orochimaru, they had marked themselves as his enemy, and thus fully responsible for what happened when they fought him) but he wasn't quite at the level where he considered everyone else to be ants to be crushed under his feet whenever he pleased.

"Do you want to come with us?"

The question took Takeshi off guard. In his experience, people didn't make offers like that unless they had something to gain from it - but he couldn't possibly see what Naruto thought he would gain from letting him tag along. From what he could see, the guy was pretty powerful in his own right, and thus wouldn't need him along to fight - unless he expected to be attacked pretty soon, and any extra numbers on his side would be welcomed?

Well, if that was the case, it would hardly be different to the situation Takeshi was already in - and he'd feel a lot better about having hunter-nins chasing after him if he had someone on his side who could defeat three full-grown ninja with a flick of his finger.

"Sure. Why not?"

* * *

There were a lot of things Sayuri didn't understand about Naruto.

She didn't understand why he had stopped to help a small child in Oto when he could have just walked off. Naruto was to be the vessel of Orochimaru, he was respected/feared, there were many who would have given their right arm to be given the chance to influence him - and yet he ignored all of them and stopped to help someone who had been doomed from the moment they arrived to die in some gruesome experiment.

She didn't understand why some of the guards whispered that he was a monster, that he could kill them all. There were some truly horrific things in Oto that were accepted as everyday life, things that were far more worse than her awesome nii-san. To call him a monster when there were curse-seal victims and Orochimaru running around seemed both unfair and unreasonable to her.

She didn't understand what was in Naruto that made him suffer so much at certain times. She knew that whatever it was was evil, and she knew that she disliked it because of the fact that it hurt Naruto.

She didn't understand where Naruto was from, but she knew enough that he didn't like the people there. While she had been lying on the floor, pretending to be dead, she heard that Naruto was apparently from 'Konoha' - wherever that was - and she instinctively disliked the place, if it produced ninjas like that.

But, the thing that she didn't understand was just what technique Naruto had just used. She knew that he knew no ninjutsu or genjutsu - he had grumbled about it quite a lot when they were planning their escape - but whatever it was, the people in Oto didn't know it. If they had, they would have used it.

So they had a weapon against Oto that Oto couldn't use! That was good, wasn't it?

She looked up at Naruto, hoping for some sign that he was thinking along the same lines as her. He smiled at her when he saw her glance, but he was obviously thinking about something else - she knew the signs of Naruto either planning something or thinking a lot about something. Knowing that he would want some peace and quiet to think over…whatever he was thinking, she decided to do the same.

Death was nothing new to Sayuri. She had killed a few times before - the matches between the children in Oto were never given any limits, and when you were up against those who had allowed the curse seal to eradicate their minds, you either left with their blood on your hands, or you didn't leave at all. However, those deaths had been as much as a part of Oto as the walls and the floor, and part of her had assumed that once they had left, that would be it.

Only now, she could see that it wasn't going to stop because this…'Konoha' were after her nii-san. And obviously they were going to have to keep on killing, because she and Naruto-nii had fought way too hard for them to just go back to being in cells.

Well…she could live with that. There was no question of leaving Naruto - he had been nicer to her than anyone she had ever met, and it would be very ungrateful to run off and leave him just because there were more people than expected who were out to get him, and besides, she didn't think that she'd last long on her own. No, staying with Naruto would be the best thing to do.

Her decision made, Sayuri smiled once again, and carried on walking.

* * *

Naruto had no idea how long they walked - after the ninjutsu he'd used, he didn't want to create another dragon, both in case the ninja that were probably already checking out the town saw it and decided to follow, and because he didn't feel comfortable using his chakra after what had just happened. But when Takeshi began to lag behind, and even his own legs began to ache, he knew that it was time to stop. They should be far enough from the town by now anyway.

Having found a spot under the shade of some slender trees not far from a river, they began to set up camp. Sayuri pulled out the field blankets, and Naruto was thankful that they had thought to buy spares, as Takeshi had no form of bedding at all. In fact, he was remarkably unprepared for someone spending a life on the move - and yet, he had shown no sign of having a house in the town. In fact, he seemed as eager to get away from it as Naruto.

Frowning at the thought, Naruto glanced up at the older boy, who was currently rolling out his sleeping-bag with the practiced ease of someone who had done it many times before. "Hey, Takeshi?"

The blue-head looked up, his hands stilling on the fabric. "What?"

"What were you doing in the town?"

Takeshi paled slightly, and Naruto noticed with interest that his hands were shaking slightly as he smoothed out his bedding. "W-why?"

Naruto leaned back, watching Sayuri poke around a tree dubiously, trying to make sure that there were no insects wriggling around in the roots. "It's just that you didn't seem to have anyone with you, and I was wondering, if that was your town, we might have-"

"I'm an orphan," Takeshi interrupted forcefully, sitting back on his heels as he glared at Naruto. "What about you?"

The sound of Sayuri scrabbling through the dirt ceased as she waited to hear what Naruto was going to say. Naruto himself thought as quickly as he could. "We're runaways."

"Really?"

'_Note to self: make up better story later.'_

Naruto shrugged. "We weren't wanted."

Well, the first part of his answer was true anyway, even if it did sound a little flat in his ears. And while the second part was an outright fib - Orochimaru didn't just want him, he needed his body if he wanted to get Naruto's power - Naruto figured that it should sound reasonable.

Takeshi grunted, and rose to his feet. "Well, I'm going to see about dinner."

Sayuri poked her head out from behind the tree. "We have food."

Takeshi shrugged. "It's okay. I wouldn't want to…impose."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. _'That, or he doesn't trust our food. I don't believe his story - there's more to this guy than meets the eye.'_

Out loud, he said "But how are you going to get food? There aren't any shops-"

Takeshi jerked his head towards the river. "There should be fish in there."

Wondering how Takeshi was going to catch the fish, Naruto rose to his feet. "Can I come with you?"

Takeshi glanced at him, the look in his eye suspicious. "I guess so."

They kept a careful distance between each other until they arrived at the river. Takeshi leaned over the side, one wary eye on Naruto, the other scanning the glittering surface of the river, while he leisurely prepared his hand-seals.

_"Raiton: Jibashi!"_

A wave of electricity cascaded into the water, crackling across the surface. Moments later, dozens of stunned fish bobbed to the surface, immobilized briefly by the jutsu's effects. Takeshi quickly swiped three of them from the surface, seconds before they started to flap around again.

Naruto stared at him in shock. "What was that?"

Takeshi glanced up. "What?"

"That technique."

"It's just a Raiton jutsu. It's good for catching fish without a fuss...why?"

"Can you teach me it?"

Takeshi was baffled. "It's C-rank, ya know. Don't you have better jutsus than that?"

"No."

Takeshi froze, staring at him in disbelief. "What? You just _blew up _half a town, and you don't think you've got better jutsus?"

Naruto gritted his teeth, disliking having to admit his weakness to a stranger. It just went against everything he had been taught in Oto - knowledge was power, and giving someone else power over him was not something Naruto was in the habit of doing. But a ninja's jutsus, no matter how lowly-ranked or common, were none the less their jutsus, and he didn't have the right to just demand training from someone.

"...That's not a proper jutsu. I didn't mean to do it, it just happened. And I don't want it to happen again."

Takeshi straightened up, looking at him doubtfully. "...Okay...But haven't you had training already?"

Naruto held out his arm. "In taijutsu and kenjutsu only. And I can't rely on them."

Takeshi fiddled with the fish on the ground uncomfortably. "Well..."

There was a quiet rustle, and Sayuri came to stand behind Naruto, who absently noted that he had barely sensed her. It seemed that her low chakra reserves did have some advantages after all. She looked up at Naruto, nodding at her arm, and he grinned.

"You know...we're willing to trade."

"Trade?"

Without bothering to give a flourish, Sayuri unsealed the scrolls. Takeshi stumbled back, looking amazed. "Kami - how many of them are there?"

Naruto shrugged. "Lots. And they've got hundreds of different jutsu in them. But we don't know how to use them."

He looked at Takeshi meaningfully. "We don't mind you using them - but it's an equal trade. Your jutsus for ours."

Takeshi mulled this over. His techniques were far from bad - but still, if every scroll in there contained even one jutsu - that was a hell of a lot of techniques to learn. Of course, they could just be lying to him - but there would be no purpose in that. They had enough power to threaten or kill him, but they hadn't used it - and, to be honest, it looked like a win-win situation.

So he nodded at them, letting the now dead fish fall to the floor. "Alright, then. But I only know Raiton and Suiton jutsus, really. Do you know what your affinities are?"

They stared at him blankly. "Affinities?"

Takeshi bit back a groan. _'This is going to be harder than I thought...'_

_

* * *

_

The ROOT ninja hopped nimbly from tree to tree, their faces blank as they rushed, despite their confusion. What was meant to be a simple mission had turned out rather badly, and they needed to get to the nearest town as soon as possible to find a messenger bird.

Five of their number had been sent out on a mission that they had completed efficiently, as was to be expected. However, they had then received orders to look out for a person called Uzumaki Naruto, though the description given was far different than what the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had previously looked like. Naturally, they did not question their orders, and so when they had observed someone of his description entering the town, they had immediately arranged a strategy - three to capture the jinchuuriki, and two to wait outside the town, on guard against any other shinobi who might try to enter the town that could give them away.

It was a simple strategy, and it should have worked. But then a large explosion had rent the town in two, throwing the waiting ROOT shinobi in turmoil. One of the ninja who had gone into the town had been a skilled Futon user, and his attacks were capable of demolishing large areas - but neither of the remaining ROOT shinobi had ever seen anything like that, and besides, the plan had been to capture the boy without any fuss, _not _to send up a signal that any fool could recognize as ninjas fighting.

Their orders had been to remain where they were and wait for the others to bring the Uzumaki back. However, when fifteen minutes passed after the explosion with no sign of their comrades, they decided to investigate.

A thorough search of the place revealed no sign of Uzumaki or the other ROOT shinobi, but there was no way that the ROOT shinobi would have abandoned their mission, and the bloody smears on the ground forced the remaining shinobi to conclude that Uzumaki had killed their comrades and made his escape. And if so, they would need back-up to track and capture/kill him, hence why they were racing to get a message out.

So occupied were they in their journey that they didn't notice the shadowy figure trailing them until it was too late.

A sword flashed, and the first ninja's head hit the floor with a muffled thump, his decapitated body following a mere second after. The other ninja spun around, just in time to see his opponent forming hand-seals.

"Katon: Hihoppui!"

A fiery whip coiled around the attacker's wrist moments before it lashed out at the ninja's abdomen, cutting and searing at the same time. The ninja fell dying onto the ground, his eyes straining to see his attacker's face. His features went pale with shock and pain.

"U-Uchiha-"

A hand reached out, snagging the pouch holding the message scroll. Lazily, red eyes scanned the words, though as the owner read further, tgeur face grew grimmer. Finally, they clenched the scroll in their fist, allowing the fire chakra still smoldering in their palm to consume it.

With a sigh, the attacker leaped forward, travelling the path the ROOT shinobi had been taking before they were killed. It appeared that Konoha had a lot of secrets...and if they were correct, a certain foolish brother could be dangerously mixed up in them.

* * *

Having established that neither Naruto or Sayuri knew their elemental affinities, it became clear to Takeshi that if he was to train - it felt rather odd in his head, as he wasn't even an official genin yet, never mind a sensei - them in the jutus that made up the bulk of his arsenal, they were going to have to find out what their affinities were. To do that, they would need the chakra-testing paper, and to get _that _they would have to find a village that was preferably not one of the Five Great Villages, as not only would it be profoundly stupid for certain members of the group to enter at least two of them (not that either Naruto or Takeshi told each other that) but for most of them, you needed papers to enter, papers that they did not have.

Thus, the map was brought out, and the three of them knelt around it, trying to pinpoint exactly where they were, and how far away the nearest villages were. After some squabbling about their exact location ("I'm telling you, Sayuri-chan, that's a drawing of a rock, _not _a secret village symbol!), they then had to establish where to go.

The nearest village to them was Kirigakure, which Takeshi was obviously keen to avoid. Travelling over water in the opposite direction would bring them to Kumo, but while none of them had a personal reason not to enter, security was bound to be tight there, and besides, Orochimaru probably had spies in every big village, and Naruto really wanted the snake kept in the dark regarding his movements for as long as he could. However, there was a small village, quite a distance from it but closer than most, that looked promising.

"It's called Kinugakure," Takeshi muttered, his finger tapping on the symbol on the map. "It'll take us about a week to reach it though by walking-"

Naruto grinned. "Who said anything about walking?"

Takeshi rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't know about you, but I can't run for three days straight-"

Naruto flicked his fingers at the scrolls that had been piled innocently by Sayuri. Instantly, they formed themselves into a large paper dragon, prompting Takeshi to splutter loudly as he stared at them in disbelief. "I thought you didn't know any jutsus?"

Naruto stared at him as if he was a simpleton. "I don't. That's not a proper jutsu."

Takeshi massaged his temple. "Let me get straight. You consider a C-rank Raiton technique that makes a small wave of electricity to be a proper jutsu, but you don't think that something that can destroy half a town or a bloody dragon made of paper that you can fly on is?"

Naruto shook his head, and Takeshi rolled his eyes. "Alright then..."

* * *

Kushina sighed as she looked up at the building in front of her. A set of rather grotty-looking apartments, it had been one of the few places she had felt relatively secure in whilst in Konoha, thanks to the numerous traps she had set around it. But the traps were gone now; her apartment had been empty for nearly three years now. Apparently, when her lease on the apartment had run out when Naruto was five, Sarutobi had paid for another six years, so that by the time it ran out, Naruto could pay it with money from being a ninja, and the contract hadn't been cancelled when her son was kidnapped.

Opening the front door, she gazed up at the flight of stairs that led to the first floor and her apartment. It felt strange, as if she had just stepped back in time. The hallway hadn't changed a bit. There was the stain where someone had thrown a rotting vegetable at Naruto before she could shut the door, there was the tiny pencil marks where she had marked her baby's growth before he could even stand up, there was the corner that she had once determinedly hunted a mouse into until Naruto made a grab for it that had distracted her enough to let it get away-

"YOU! How dare you show your face here-"

There was the hateful old landlady that had delighted in depleting Kushina's savings in exchange for a tiny set of rooms that Kushina had been forced to use over fifteen jutsus to make habitable.

"Kaoru-san!" Kushina said cheerfully, one hand on her hip. "It's nice to see you again!"

The old lady hobbled forward, glaring at her. Her wispy hair barely covered the fragile skull that was only barely disguised by papery-thin skin, while her shaking hand clutched a walking-stick. Even in her weakened state, Kushina could have taken her out in one kick, so why she thought glaring at her and shaking her stick would do much good, the redhead had no idea.

"Don't you dare befoul my building with your presence, you filthy Whirpool slut! I've had enough of you monsters traipasing around my property!"

Kushina smirked. "Oh, don't worry. In a few minutes, I'll be gone, and you'll never have to worry about me or my money again." The only people who lived here were the truly desperate, and they could hardly afford to pay the ruinous fees the old hag had charged. Once Kushina was gone for good, she had no doubt that the landlady would find her salary dropping rapidly.

Kaoru sniffed, staring at Kushina disdainfully. "I can hardly imagine what you'd want in there. Ever since the little demon vanished, there's been no one going in or out."

Of course there hadn't been - countless vandalism had forced Kushina to apply seals all over the place that prevented anyone from entering if either she or Naruto weren't there.

"Of course," Kaoru went on, a nasty gleam in her eye that made Kushina stiffen, "I didn't think you'd come back - after all, who'd want to come home and admit to themselves that they carried a demon into the world-"

The woman's spiteful words were cut off by her gurgling scream as Kushina's foot slammed into her throat. It wasn't quite enough to break her neck, unfortunately, but the force of the blow sent her crashing into the wall, and she slid down to the floor, unconscious.

Kushina snorted. Konoha really needed to start learning about their mouths writing cheques their skills couldn't cash. As if she would allow that hateful woman to spread rumours about her abandoning her son because of his status as a jinchuuriki. Really, if that was the case, she'd have left him first thing after the Kyuubi attack instead of staying for months as his caring mother.

As she'd prefer to be out of Konoha by the time the landlady woke up, Kushina decided to get moving. Striding up the stairs, she fitted the key the Sandaime had given her into the lock, despite the fact it wasn't needed - the seals on the door would have let her in anyway, recognizing her as one of those keyed in to their system.

The apartment was cold, probably from the broken heater that Kushina had never been able to fix (she used ninjutsus to warm the apartment when she was there instead). There was dust everywhere as well, and Kushina grimaced as she stepped over the mouldering remains of several ramen packets. It seemed that no one had bothered to help Naruto apart from the Sandaime (though as he apparently thought that going out for ramen once a month was taking care of a neglected child with no orphans and the power of the Kyuubi within him, Kushina was rather disinclined to think of his aid as proper help) and he had had to do everything by himself.

_'No more, Naruto. When I find you, I'll take care of you, like I always should have!'_

Kushina was already thinking things out. She didn't know exactly what Orochimaru had done to Naruto, but knowing that snake, it would be something nasty. Well that was fine - if the Kyuubi wasn't enough to stop her loving her son, mucking around with his DNA wouldn't either (though Orochimaru was still going to die in a very painful manner for daring to hurt her son). Finding him would be difficult as well, and of course, there was no guarantee that he would want to come with her. After all, to Naruto, she would be a stranger.

Well, she would find a way to repair the damage, and if she could get him to come with her...Perhaps they would return to the ruins of Uzushiogakure. Even if there was nothing there, the land belonged to the former citizens, and even if they decided not to rebuild anything there, it would be good for Naruto to see his _real _heritage - that of a proud and loyal clan who stuck by each other, no matter what, unlike the ungrateful villagers of Konoha.

Perhaps they could become one of the wandering clans. There were still a few of those about, though they were getting rarer, and Kushina was skilled enough to be able to hide them from most of those who would want to try and get rid of them. Or maybe they could join another village - the last two Uzumakis would be an attractive prospect even without the Kyuubi. Add that, and she doubted that anyone would want to bar their entry.

She was so busy thinking about it all that she almost didn't notice the creaking of the stairs until the person climbing them was at the door. Gritting her teeth, Kushina stormed over to the door. If it was a villager trying to vandalize the aparment-

But when Kushina pulled the door open, it was to find someone she had never expected to see again.

"K-Kushina-chan."

Kushina folded her arms, glaring at the newcomers. Of all the people that she had neither expected or wanted to see again, Hyuuga Hitomi was very near to the top of the list, especially when she had a branch family escort.

"Can I come in?"

Kushina snorted, her lean body blocking the doorway. "I don't think so, Hyuuga. We have _nothing _to say to each other."

To her surprise, Hitomi for once did not imitate a wallflower, and instead stayed where she was. "Please, Kushina. There are some things we need to talk about."

Kushina eyed her suspiciously, before glancing at the branch house member. "I don't let strangers into my home. Even if I am leaving it."

Hitomi nodded calmly, as if she'd expected it all along. "That's fine. Kosuke-kun, would you wait outside?"

The branch member looked shocked. "But Hitomi-sama! Hiashi-sama explicity said-"

"I am aware of what my husband's orders were, Kosuke-kun, but I don't think that I'll be in danger if I just step inside for a few minutes, do you?"

From the branch member's expression and activated Byakugan, he did think that, but Hitomi sailed inside the apartment before any protests could be made by either Kushina or the branch member. Kushina slammed the door shut, and turned to look at her former friend.

Many years had passed since Kushina's genin exam, but she remembered it vividly. A poor attention span and lack of any training outside the academy had her placed near the bottom of the class ranking, not quite dead-last, but close. To balance out whatever team she was placed on, two high-ranking kunoichi had been placed with her: Uchiha Mikoto, and Hyuuga Hitomi.

Their personalities had clashed - Kushina was loud and fond of jokes, Mikoto was gentle but filled with the propaganda of the 'Uchiha superiority' , while Hitomi was impossibly shy. But after a few months (and many teamwork exercises issued by their maddened sensei) they had balanced out. Mikoto and Hitomi had helped Kushina calm down and instilled some manners into her. Kushina and Hitomi had, after several pranks, convinced Mikoto that being an Uchiha would not make her great on its own, and she had become a much better ninja and person because of it. Between the two of them, Kushina and Mikoto had managed to give Hitomi better confidence and she had blossomed into a kunoichi that even her stuck-up clan-members respected.

They each received war-time promotions to chunin, and actually managed to get through the Jounin Exams on their first try. Kushina already had ambitions for ANBU, and had assumed that her friends would follow her. But it turned out that while as part of Konoha's two most prestigious clans, Mikoto and Hitomi had wealth and privileges that Kushina would never have, they also had less freedom, and to Kushina's astonishment, both of her team-mates were married off to the clan heirs, the 'honour' of the marriages being their 'reward' for being one of the few kunoichi who made jounin.

Kushina had been fully prepared to march to the clan compounds and crash the wedding for her friends, but neither appreciated the idea - Hitomi was too scared to go against her clan, and Mikoto, who had been raised with the idea that it was her duty, thought that it would be a betrayal to the Uchiha if she did anything less than give up her shinobi career to be a house-wife. And, despite Kushina's best efforts, they had slowly drifted apart, until the weeks after the Kyuubi attack, where it had been made clear to Kushina by members of both clans that the matriarchs wanted nothing to do with the mother of the Kyuubi.

Hurt, Kushina had destroyed every aspect of her life that involved them, and had proceeded to systematically ignore them whenever she saw them around Konoha, something that was reciprocated whole-heartedly by both of them. So why Hitomi had decided to show up now, when Kushina was fulfilling everyone's wishes by leaving Konoha for good, she had no idea.

"How did you know I was here?"

Hitomi smiled softly, her hands clasped in front of her. "Being the wife of the Hyuuga clan head does have advantages, Kushina. One of the medics who treated you was a branch member, who then told me."

"Nice to see that the Hyuugas are above patient confidentiality," Kushina snarled, shooting a filthy look at the door that shielded the branch member. "I don't want to stay in this village a moment longer than I have to, so tell me, Hitomi, what do you want?"

Hitomi stared at her, her pale eyes narrowed. "You're leaving?"

Kushina sneered at her. "Why would I stay?"

Hitomi opened her mouth, but slowly closed it, shaking her head. "I suppose you have a good point, Kushina. I suppose I wouldn't want to stay here either."

"Yes, who would want to stay in a place where you get spat on for saving a village and your best friends turn their backs on you for no reason?"

Hitomi had the grace to look embarrassed. "Kushina, I never thought of Naruto as a monster-"

"Well, you treated him like one!"

Hitomi looked angry. "I'll have you know, Kushina, that not a single Hyuuga made any attempt against Naruto. Hiashi even pushed in his favour when the council were considering his death!"

"Oh, congratulations, Hitomi! Your clan actually gave my son the courtesy that was his basic right as a living being! But tell me this, Hitomi, did any of your clan bother to help him when I was abducted?"

"Abducted?"

Kushina stared at her coldly. "Did you really think that I would abandon my son?"

Hitomi was silent, and that was answer enough. Kushina shook her head in disbelief. "Well, it's nice to see that you think so little of me, Hitomi. I was actually being tortured day and night for this village's secrets, but that's no problem!"

Hitomi stared at her, horrified. "You were being tortured? By who?"

Kushina shook her head, turning around to search through a wardrobe. There were still some clothes in there, and she seized her favourite shirt in delight.

"Kushina?"

"It doesn't matter," Kushina said shortly. "I didn't give up anything about Konoha, which is all the village should be concerned about."

"Of course it matters! If other villages are kidnapping our ninja-"

"Trust me, Hitomi, it was me they were after, and I doubt they'll go after any more of _your _ninja now that I've escaped."

"You? But why you specifically? Was it Minato's techniques?"

"Yes," Kushina muttered, scooping out a pair of baggy black pants. She actually had another suspicion about her abduction, but she'd be damned if she shared it with anyone from Konoha.

"But Kushina! If they were willing to go after you when you were part of Konoha, then surely you'll be in far greater danger when you leave? Shouldn't you stay here, where it's safer?"

"SAFER? SAFER? Oh, yes, Konoha's incredibly safe, isn't it? That's how Orochimaru managed to get his hands on hundreds of test subjects! That's how your own daughter was kidnapped during a peace talk! That's how my son was snatched within its walls! With such security, how could I ever want to leave?"

Seeing that she was making no headway, Hitomi sighed. "I think you're making a mistake, Kushina. But for what it's worth...I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Hitomi. Sorry that I ever believed that you could be more than a shadow of the Hyuuga clan."

* * *

Takeshi shook his head incredulously, trying to ignore the fact that they were flying hundreds of feet above the ground. "Let me guess. Making bombs out of clay and puppetry doesn't count as jutsus either?"

Sayuri - he'd just learned her name - shook her head, her curls whipping about her face in the wind. "You don't use hand-seals for puppetry or bombs, so they're not proper jutsus!"

Wondering how you could make bombs without hand-seals but with chakra, Takeshi leaned forward. "Well, you use chakra with it, don't you? So that makes it a jutsu"

"That doesn't count!"

"Does!"

"Doesn't!"

"Does!"

"Doesn't!"

"Does!"

"Does!"

"Doesn't!"

"HAH!"

"..."

Naruto ignored their bickering, focusing on controlling the dragon. However, as he leaned over to check the ground beneath them, a thought occurred to him.

He controlled the paper the same way he shaped his clay - with his chakra. And if that was the case, could it be possible for him to create a flying creature out of clay instead?

It would be advantageous, as the clay would be stronger than paper, and the risk of damaging the scrolls would drop significantly - but first Naruto would have to make the dragon. And once that was done, they were going to have to keep reusing it, because there was no way in hell that Naruto was going to keep chewing clay or dirt every time they needed to fly somewhere.

Well, that was a thought for another time. Allowing himself to relax a little, Naruto settled back and continued to fly the dragon, confident that this was going to be a simple, peaceful journey. After all, surely the Fates couldn't hate him that much...

* * *

Aiko smiled merrily as she plucked another item of clothing off the rack, holding it against her granddaughter's small body. "Just look at that one, Kiyoshi? Don't you think you'd look nice in it? Or perhaps this one instead-"

Kiyoshi's answering stare suggested that she'd rather pluck out her own eyeballs than suffer a moment longer in the shop. Well, it seemed that soon she'd be blind, as Aiko had no intention of letting up any time soon. After ten years of raising her son's daughter, she was finally getting to enjoy one of the up-sides of parenting - forcing your socially awkward child into a long line of clothes that they really didn't want to wear, all the while playing the part of the sweet grandparent who only wanted the best for their little darling.

Only this wasn't just an ordinary shopping trip. It was traditional in Kinugakure for any would-be genin to be presented at the village hall every year so that they could be tested. If judged proficient enough in the shinobi arts, they would be declared a genin of Kinugakure and either put into an already existing team, or shoved with a group of other new genins. As Kiyoshi had just turned ten, the typical graduation age, she would be sent to the hall in the next week - and Aiko wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Oh, she didn't doubt that Kiyoshi could pass the exam. Her ninjutsu and taijutsu were weak, but her genjutsu ability was on par with, if not surpassing Aiko's own, and unlike the exams she'd heard about other ninja villages having, there were no set tests. You simply showed off your different abilities - and given Kiyoshi's skill in fuinjutsu, a rare skill in Kinu, she was almost guaranteed to pass.

No, it wasn't Kiyoshi's skill that Aiko was worried about. It was Kiyoshi herself.

The girl was very quiet and very shy - even without genjutsu, she could melt into the background, with no one noticing her. She didn't know how to properly interact with people - Aiko had the suspicion from several conversations with her that she didn't know what made most people tick, what she should say in response to certain things and what she should just let go. This, of course, wasn't helped in the slightest by the fact that most people in the village disliked her. Aiko had built up a good sense of communication with her over the years, helping her to understand Aiko's meanings and respond - but she doubted that her teammates would extend the same courtesy.

And miscommunication during missions could have deadly consequences.

With a sigh, Aiko watched her granddaughter duck into a changing-room, grumbling while she did so. Aiko had tricked her into thinking that they were simply going out to get some ink supplies, and she wasn't happy about being forced into trying on different outfits. But Aiko was not about to let her just march out into the field without proper clothes, and so she happily ignored Kiyoshi's angry mutters.

Finally, Kiyoshi came out of the dressing-room, wearing a dark grey jacket with matching pants, and a dark green shirt underneath, which had a pattern of leaves all over it, as well as a large scowl on her face, which only intensified when Aiko patted her white hair. "See, Kiyoshi-chan! That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Kiyoshi ducked her head. "...Yes!"

"Really? So you don't like the clothes? Well, we can always put them back and find some different ones-"

"No! I...I like these ones."

Turning her head so that Kiyoshi couldn't see her smirk, Aiko nodded. "Well, if that's the case, why don't you get changed back and step outside while I pay for the clothes?"

For the first few weeks after Mamoru's visit, she hadn't let Kiyoshi out of her sight, terrified of shadowy figures coming to steal her granddaughter away while she wasn't looking. But weeks had passed, and with no sign of the people Mamoru had warned her about, Aiko was beginning to relax. She wanted to get Kiyoshi accustomed to going out on her own without her, and making her just wait outside a shop was a small step in that direction.

Kiyoshi looked a bit unsure, but nodded, and slowly walked out of the shop, glancing at Aiko from over her shoulder. Aiko smiled reassuringly and turned to the front of the shop, wincing as the cool air that had drifted into the shop when Kiyoshi opened the door faded away. It was a hot, dry day, the kind that sprang up out of nowhere, too suddenly for anyone to properly enjoy it. As soon as she and Kiyoshi got home, they would probably just laze about, doing nothing in particular.

It was a hot dry day, the kind where nothing ever happened.

Nothing.

* * *

Kiyoshi bit her lip, shifting anxiously from one foot to another as she waited for her grandmother to come out of the shop. She didn't like being out of the house, she hated large crowds, and she loathed people staring at her - and right now, she was experiancing all three.

The streets of Kinugakure were currently bustling with people who were eager to take advantage of the warm weather (they'd been experiancing a series of rainy days for a while) and her senses were almost overwhelmed by the noise and sights around her. People shouting, the sickeningly sweet smell drifting from the dango shop, the throbbing music coming from the window of the house opposite her...it was disorentiating at best for her, making her feel almost claustrophobic at worse. It wasn't made any easier by the fact that people kept glaring at her as they walked past, and it made her feel very self-conscious.

The plants in the stone pot next to her swayed, one of them slithering up her wrist in an attempt at comfort. Kiyoshi shook it off, though her lips twitched in a smile. For as long as she could remember, plants had 'liked her.' They sprouted all over their garden (which had made Obaa-chan very cross when she had to do the weeding) they petted and tickled her (very painful when she fell into a nettle patch) and once or twice even followed her around (which had been very spooky when she was in the garden at night and was convinced that she was being followed by a large snake).

The plants did what she said sometimes, and she thought that with a bit of practice, she could perhaps get even better with them. But Obaa-chan had sat her down and told her firmly that the reason the plants were like that was because of the demon inside her - something she tried not to think about and generally pretended wasn't there at all - and so working with them would be a Bad. Idea.

Kiyoshi didn't think so, but obaa-chan was the only person who was nice to her, and she was very grateful to her because of that. And so she avoided plants when she could, and when she couldn't...she began looking for weed-killer.

_**"Stupid girl. To have such potential and then to squander it on the words of a human...Pathetic."**_

Kiyoshi stepped away from the plants. _'Go away.'_

_**"As I have told you before...I cannot. We are bound together until you die."**_

_'Thought you died if I died.'_

The voice paused, the absence of its deep tones a welcome relief. Not expecting it to talk again - the voice rarely spoke, and when it did, it was never for long - Kiyoshi bent down to look at a caterpillar crawling over a flower-stem.

_**"That is...correct. But never forget, child, you need Me more than I need you. I am ancient, I have lived for hundreds of years, and exist for thousands more. But you...Your life was bound to Mine, your soul was part of Mine barely days after you were born. Your very existence is part of Me, and that is all it ever shall be. So, tell me child, when We die...what's to say that you won't just dissolve into My soul?**_

Kiyoshi scowled, unwilling to think about that. But it was too hot to be thinking about a reply or a denial for now, and so Kiyoshi leaned back against the wall of the shop, trying to get under the shade of the thin bit of roof that was jutting over her head. Feeling a bit sleepy, she shut her eyes, hoping that her grandmother would be out of the shop soon.

A ticklish sensation on her wrist alerted her to the fact that another plant had tried to climb on her. Feeling irritated now, Kiyoshi jerked her wrist back, hoping no-one had seen-

"Kiyoshi! Get over here now!"

Guiltily, Kiyoshi brushed off the remains of the plant stem and hurried over to where her grandmother was standing, looking quite cross. Feeling a need to impress the fact that the plant thing was not her fault, Kiyoshi tried to explain. "Obaa-chan, I didn't mean to-"

"Be quiet, Kiyoshi!" Obaa-chan snapped, and Kiyoshi reared back, offended. "But, Obaa-chan-"

"I said be quiet, Kiyoshi! We're going home!"

Angry now - Obaa-chan knew it wasn't her fault, but she hadn't even let her explain - Kiyoshi stalked off in the direction of their home. A pity, because if she'd looked over her shoulder, and perhaps looked a little deeper, she'd have realized that the brusque tone in her grandmother's voice came not from anger, but from worry, and that she was now looking at a doorway that had been practically opposite of where Kiyoshi had been standing, a doorway that was empty save for a few pieces of paper fluttering in the breeze.

* * *

Aiko had not been eager to linger in the shop, the stuffy atmosphere being no help in cooling her down. But once she stepped outside, she found to her panic that she couldn't see Kiyoshi anywhere in the crowds. Worriedly, she scanned the area, trying to spot that head of white hair. And though she didn't see it, her eyes did fall upon a rather strange figure.

She couldn't tell their gender from their general shape, as whoever it was was clothed in a large black cloak, decorated with red clouds - an odd style that Aiko hadn't seen before. Their head was covered too, with a straw conical hat that had long white strips shielding their face from view. In fact, the only part of their body Aiko could actually see was their hands, which were small and delicate, with nails that were painted orange and a small ring. To Aiko, it looked quite feminine, so whoever the figure was, it was probably female.

Were it just for the odd appearance of whoever it was, Aiko would have just passed them off as another visitor with an odd sense of style. But the way the figure was standing made it clear that they were staring at something. And as Aiko followed the line of their gaze, to her horror, she saw Kiyoshi lounging against the shop wall, eyes shut and looking completely unaware of everything around her. And then, as if to shout to the world what she held, a plant slithered up her arm, curling lovingly around the elbow.

And suddenly, Aiko remembered something. Mamoru had given her a warning the last time he visited, about Kiyoshi...

_"If you see anyone wearing a cloak with red clouds, keep Kiyoshi hidden."_

Icy terror flooded through Aiko. Kiyoshi was standing no more than ten feet away from someone who was after the Gobi, and if Aiko didn't _move, _she was willing to bet her life that Kiyoshi was going to vanish the moment she turned her back_._The figure, who apparently hadn't seen the old woman, took a step forward, and Aiko immediately strode over to Kiyoshi, making sure that her body was between the figure and the jinchuuriki. The blasted child still hadn't realized that she was being watched like a rabbit observed by a hawk, and was even now just playing around with the plant. Was she _trying _to shout out what she was to the world?

"Kiyoshi! Get over here now!"

The girl jumped nearly a foot in the air, before hurrying over to Aiko, who was now scanning the crowds frantically for the figure, who seemed to have vanished. Kiyoshi stood in front of her, looking upset about something. Well, she should be! If Aiko was right - and she prayed that she wasn't - then the jinchuuriki could just have broadcasted her identity to someone who could very well want her dead.

"Obaa-chan, I didn't mean to-"

"Be quiet, Kiyoshi," Aiko snapped, unable to see the figure anywhere. Surely they couldn't have vanished so quickly without a jutsu - but there was a range to every transportation techniques outside of fuinjutsu, and if the figure had used one of them then they couldn't have left the village, meaning that Kiyoshi was still in great danger - in fact, she was now in far hotter water because Aiko now didn't know where her observer was.

"But, Obaa-chan-"

"I said be quiet, Kiyoshi!" Aiko twisted around, making sure that whoever it was hadn't sneaked up behind them. "We're going home." At least there, there were more hiding-places and security seals to keep Kiyoshi safe. Retreating would be better than staying out in the open.

Kiyoshi glared at her - what the child was angry about, Aiko wasn't sure - and stormed off. With a sigh, Aiko gave a final look around before following her.

Behind them, the paper fluttering in the doorway slowly reformed into the figure, who tilted her head, exposing a few strands of blue hair and piercing grey-blue eyes. The jinchuuriki had been locating, and was even now heading off with its guardian away from the busy streets, where Konan could not afford to draw attention to herself and thus the organization. Yes, it seemed that the first retrieval of a bijuu would go very well indeed.

* * *

Kiyoshi was still sulking when they got home, and went straight up to her room, determined to ignore Aiko for the rest of the day. Her grandmother, while normally amused whenever Kiyoshi tried to give her the silent treatment (it never worked; Kiyoshi would always end up saying something to her casually without thinking, realize her mistake, and then sulk for a while more before pretending that nothing ever happened) was just thankful that it kept her out of the way while Aiko investigated the possibilty of someone being after Kiyoshi.

She didn't want to think of the idea that someone could be trying to cause her granddaughter's death because of Aiko's own actions. And just because whoever it was was wearing a cloak with red clouds didn't mean they were from that organization. And Kiyoshi's somewhat feral appearance due to the bijuu inside her was fairly unusual, as was the way plants seem to try to hug the girl whenever they saw her. Perhaps the figure had just been surprised and stopped by to look...

Oh, who was she trying to fool? The woman was undoubtedly a member of the organization, and had probably being trying to figure out the identity of the village's jinchuuriki - and Kiyoshi had very obligingly put on a show. She couldn't have been more obvious if she tattooed **'JINCHUURIKI' **on her forehead in bright red letters. And now, Aiko had to deal with the aftermath - and she didn't fancy their chances.

Kiyoshi was good when you evaluated her skills at genin level, but whoever they were facing wouldn't be a genin. If this organization was after the bijuu, they probably had some means of controlling them - and you weren't able to control the bijuu without some very advanced skills, far above genin level. And combat had never been Aiko's forte, even in her prime, and she was an old woman now.

To put it bluntly...They were pretty much screwed.

A knock on the door made Aiko jump, almost dropping the kunai in her hands. She backed away from the door, unsure of what to do. The door wouldn't hold back a ninja - the question was, did she try to unlock it and just attack whoever was behind it, or did she focus on getting Kiyoshi out of there and let the ninja batter down the door instead?

The knock came again, and Kiyoshi appeared at the top of the staircase behind Aiko, one clawed hand gripping the banister, another on her hip. "Obaa-chan, aren't you going to answer that?"

Aiko twisted around, her decision made. "Kiyoshi, you need to get out of here-"

And that was when the person outside decided that they had waited long enough.

* * *

Kushina gave a weary sigh of relief as she emptied the last of the items that had been sealed into the wall of the apartment into her bag. Always the cautious ANBU, she had made sure to put everything expensive and/or dangerous away whenever she was off on missions, just in case the seals on the outside of the apartment failed and she wasn't there to stop any vandals.

Sadly, this had had a detrimental effect, as when she vanished, no one knew where the items were, and thus Naruto was left without them, living in poverty whilst being unaware that a small fortune was waiting in the walls.

Satisfied that she had everything, Kushina slung the bag over her shoulder and stood up. She didn't even look around as she left, feeling no need to. There was nothing left for her in Konoha anymore.

The streets were bustling when she stepped outside, but Kushina used her skills as a former ANBU to evade the crowds, and jumped over roofs instead. She had no desire to meet anyone else from Konoha. Sadly, it was not to be. For as she landed by the gate, someone stepped out of the shadows, his long white mane and bright clothes somehow remaining hidden from her until it was too late to avoid him.

"Kushina," Jiraiya hissed quietly, his eyes darting about. "We need to talk. Badly. There's some things you don't know."

* * *

Kiyoshi stared at the unfolding scene before her in terrified fascination, unsure of what exactly was happening, but knowing that it wasn't good. Obaa-chan was _scared_, terrified even, and Kiyoshi had never seen her like this before.

A deep growl reverberated inside her head.

_**"Foolish child. She trembled before Me when I came to your village, and she wasn't even in My genjutsu. Your mother was - and she died because of it."**_

_'Be quiet. I'm trying to listen.'_

The stranger, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, stepped forward into the light of the ceiling lamp, and Kiyoshi's breath caught in her throat. The woman was quite pretty, with short blue hair that had a paper flower pinned in it, and piercing blue-grey eyes. But her face was...not cold exactly, but eerily apathetic, and her eyes flickered around the room until they came to rest on Kiyoshi. Resisting the urge to back away, Kiyoshi leaned over the banister, glaring at her. "Who're you?"

The woman smiled grimly. "That does not matter."

This roused Aiko out of her shock. "It doesn't matter?" She glared at the woman, the kunai in her hand glinting. "You barge into my home, have the nerve to get _paper _everywhere" - she gestured at the sheets that were still swirling about in the air - "and I have to say, I don't particularly appreciate any of that. So if you would answer my granddaughter's question..."

The woman shrugged. "I am part of Akatsuki, that is all you need to know. We are building a new world..." She glanced back at Kiyoshi, who stood frozen at the top of the staircase. "And we require the power of the bijuu to do so."

Kiyoshi winced as the Gobi roared in her head. _**'My power? She dares to lay claim to My POWER? THE ARROGANCE!"**_

Figuring that now was not the time to point out that Houkou was hardly one to talk about arrogance, Kiyoshi looked at her grandmother, silently asking her what to do. Aiko jerked her head, trying to convey the message that Kiyoshi should run back into her bedroom, where there was a window that had a large tree just outside it. If she could make it out of the house...well, the woods weren't far, and Kiyoshi knew them like the back of her hand. If she used genjutsu and was careful, then maybe she could escape-

Unfortunately, it seemed that the mysterious kunoichi was done playing. Lifting her hand, she pointed at Kiyoshi. "Kami shuriken!"

The paper that had been innocently swirling in the air - _'I should have noticed that they were staying up too long' - _suddenly twisted into the shape of white shurikens, which hurtled through the air towards Kiyoshi. The jinchuurik yelped and ducked, jumping over the banister to land awkwardly on the floor.

_'OUCH!'_

But the shuriken's target had never been Kiyoshi. Instead, they slammed into the door, cutting into the lock and spaces. They wouldn't be able to open it again fast enough to escape. And so Aiko dug her nails into her thin skin, breaking it and causing pinpricks of blood to bloom on her palm. She smeared it over a tiny seal that had been scratched on the wall behind her. It flared white, activated the traps Aiko had set over the years.

Kunai seemed to burst out of nowhere in showers from the ceiling, crashing towards the floor with terrifying speed. Aiko had already yanked Kiyoshi behind the safety of the stairs, and put her mouth by Kiyoshi's ear. "Create a genjutu to hide us!"

Nodding despite her obvious fear, Kiyoshi began flickering through handseals, her eyes half-closed. "Kamereon no jutsu!"

Aiko nodded in grim approval. It was a technique that blended the user into the background, but it could be undone if someone concentrated hard enough and was able to send a quick pulse of chakra. However, Kiyoshi was already going through other jutsus, placing illusionary dopplegangers around the room and layering them in half a dozen other genjutus. The good news was that that should keep the woman occupied, giving them enough time to escape. The bad news was that the effort of holding so many jutsus was taking its toll on the jinchuuriki, who was panting and beginning to tremble.

Quickly, the old woman grasped Kiyoshi's arm, pulling her along with her towards the kitchen. The back door was probably locked, but Aiko would kick it through if she had to. Kiyoshi just had to hold her genjutsu until they were far enough into the village to get back-up-

And that was when everything went to hell in a gift-wrapped handbasket.

* * *

Konan had received the news that she was to be the one to capture the first jinchuuriki with her natural stoicism. She was far from the strongest in the organization when it came to fighting - her abilities were far more suitable to espionage than attacking. But it was thought that, out of the ninja up to offer, she was the best to tackle the jinchuuriki. As they were not sure of its identity, she could use her abilities to spy on the population of Kinugakure until she found out, and then quietly abduct the jinchuuriki when no one else was looking.

Truthfully, she hadn't been completely sure about it. Every Akatsuki member would be operating with the assumption that their jinchuuriki would, if scenting defeat, transform into their bijuu. From what Konan knew about the Gobi, it was cruel and vindicative, but also, more dangerously, very intelligent. It was legendary for holding grudges, and on the off chance that the bijuu ever escaped the Akatsuki's control, she knew that it would hunt her down, waiting patiently until she was far away enough for her god to be unable to aid her in time before striking. But it was on those same god's orders that she was attacking the bijuu and so she had proceeded.

Right now, she was patiently examining the room, having used a shield of hardened paper to protect herself from the hail of kunai. She could see no less than three different copies of the old woman and the jinchuuriki, all fleeing in different directions. They were good, very good, and as it was no doubt the jinchuuriki that created them, the child would probably be a wonder with genjutsu, were she allowed to grow up. But sacrifices had to made for peace, and Konan had no qualms about ending the life of nine people if it meant that thousands more could be saved.

The kunoichi's eyes narrowed. There were three doppelgängers from three corners, but none in the corner shielded by the stairs. So either the jinchuuriki just didn't have enough chakra to sustain three seperate genjutsus, or-

Konan held out her hand, sheets of paper forming a deadly sword in her hand. She just needed a clear shot at the jinchuuriki's legs to cripple or at least delay her, giving Konan plenty of time to knock her out and transport her to one of the many bases Akatsuki had prepared.

There! The slightest shimmer in the air, showing where two separate things that looked the same were standing together, no doubt some kind of cloaking technique. Konan drew back, judging from the flickering shadows about the location of the jinchuuriki, and then struck at the back of the knees.

For a few seconds, silence reigned. Then it was shattered by a child's scream.

* * *

Kiyoshi had been terrified of the strange kunoichi. It wasn't so much for the fact that she was a dangerous opponent, though it was clear that she was - Obaa-chan wouldn't have looked so worried if she was a genin or chunin-level kunoichi. It wasn't so much for the fact that the woman had said that she wanted the power of the Gobi, which Kiyoshi knew currently resided in her own body - and as she didn't sound interesting in getting Kiyoshi to co-operate, the jinchuuriki had the nasty feeling that using the Gobi's power didn't require Kiyoshi to be alive. It wasn't even the fact that she was a stranger, and Kiyoshi had always instinctively distrusted strangers even if her grandmother liked them.

No, the reason Kiyoshi was so scared was the way Houkou was acting. The demon had told her that it would be wise to flee. Flee, not attack, not act as a wounded dog might, but flee. If it was that scared of being controlled, of being captured...

Then that didn't say much for her hopes of escaping, did it?

But Obaa-chan had ordered her to make genjutsus, as if there was still hope. She had come up with a plan that had sounded like it would work. She had sounded hopeful, and Kiyoshi, with the mind-set of a child who thought that her family could make everything all right, had hoped too.

But it hadn't worked. Just as they were stepping into the kitchen, the kunoichi had suddenly dove for them. Aiko had shoved Kiyoshi forward, but stumbled over a small tear in the linen floor as she did so. And when the kunoichi stabbed downwards with her sword-

Kiyoshi heard a wet _schlik, _and then a horrible gurgling noise. Warm liquid splashed on her back, and then her grandmother had slammed into her with her full weight, knocking Kiyoshi off her feet. The stunned jinchuuriki had lain face-down in the carpet for a few seconds, before she recovered and rolled onto her side, facing her grandmother.

What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Aiko was lying on the carpet, her eyes wide. Emerging from her throat was a pale blade made out of _paper_, and a detatched part of Kiyoshi thought that it was a sick twist of irony, that her grandmother should be killed by the material that she had worked with her whole life. But the rest of her was too busy being horrified, because her grandmother wasn't dead. Blood was trickling out of her mouth, gushing out of her nose, and still she wasn't dead. Her whole body was shaking horribly, while all that Kiyoshi could hear was a wet gurgling from her throat, as if Aiko was drowning in her own blood.

There was no dramatic last words, no last deep sigh - only the horrible gurgling noise of a slow painful death. Aiko was dying, but she wouldn't be gone for a minute or two, and Kiyoshi was too shocked to even think about reaching for a kunai to give the only person she had ever cared about in her entire life a merciful end. However Konan, taking pity on the woman, tugged out her sword, and severed Aiko's spine, ending her suffering.

The Akatsuki straightened up, staring down at the jinchuuriki. She had intended to knock the woman out before immobilizing the jinchuuriki, but things obviously hadn't worked out that way. However, the jinchuuriki seemed to be frozen, unable to move for shock. Konan reached down, intending to knock her out with a quick strike at the neck-

Only to be met with one of the heaviest loads of killing intent she had ever felt.

* * *

Kiyoshi's entire world had been shattered. She had had a simple, quiet existence living in Kinugakure, which was a rather isolated village in itself. She had based her life around her grandmother, her genjutsu, her status as a jinchuuriki, and the sancturary of her home. But now?

Now?

Her home had been breached. Her genjutsu had failed to protect what she needed it to. Her grandmother was lying dead on the floor, an ignoble, brutal death that she hadn't deserved, and all because she wanted to protect her. And it was all because of the woman in front of her, the woman who was even now reaching for her, as if she hadn't done enough.

It was enough to break someone's mind, especially seeing as Kiyoshi didn't exactly have a stable mind in the first place. Indeed, as Kiyoshi bared her teeth in a snarl, her pale blue eyes now a dark purple, she looked exactly as Konan remembered Chichi being when Yahiko stepped on his tail - small, supposedly unthreatening, but staring up with such emotion that the hardened S-Class shinobi actually felt a bit unnerved. But that meant nothing.

"I HATE YOU!"

Even those words, growled out in a tone Kiyoshi barely recognized as her own, did not seem to convey the anger she felt, the hot, seething anger that twisted in her stomach, her grief and rage over Aiko's death colliding with Houkou's desire to burn and slaughter until there was nothing left.

Her vision seemed to burn white with her anger, and she shut her eyes. And then, suddenly, she seemed to be falling, tumbling into blackness.

_'A-Am I fainting? I can't! She's going to kill me!'_

But then her feet hit solid ground - odd, because she didn't remember getting up from her kneeling position - and Kiyoshi opened her eyes.

She seemed to be standing into a forest, not unlike the one near the back of the village. But something was wrong. The trees were a lot darker than in her forest, and there were far more plants growing on the floor, tiny plants with spiky edges that looked like they'd be painful to step on. Not only that, but there was a strange white light glowing in the distance.

Slowly, Kiyoshi picked her way towards the source of the light, wrinking her noise at the smell, which like rotting meat soaked in some kind of sickly sweet perfume. She was almost gagging on it by the time she reached the source - but then she looked up, and all thoughts about the smell fell away instantly.

She was standing in front of a tree far larger than any she had ever seen in her life apart from pictures of the forests of Konoha. The inside of the tree was completely hollow, and most of the part facing her was missing, and instead blocked off by an enormous pair of dark gates, similar to the ones used in big gardens with an intricate design that formed the shape of a seal. From beyond the gates, she could see nothing but darkness...until something stepped forward, its violet eyes gleaming.

_**"Greetings, oh jinchuuriki of Mine."**_

Kiyoshi scrambled back, her eyes wide. "Y-you can't be here! You're sealed!"

The five-tailed dog - or was it a dog? It looked more like a wolf to her...oh, five-tailed canine then! - yawned, exposing large white teeth reminded Kiyoshi just what she was dealing with. _**"How disappointing. I would have expected you to realize that I have not been released...It is you who was drawn into your own mind. But humans are always so entertaingly slow."**_

"What do you want? I'm not letting you out!"

**_"Oh yes you are - unless you want to die."_**

Kiyoshi gulped, the sudden reminder of what was happening in reality. But she still shook her head, despite her fear. Obaa-chan had made her promise to not let the Gobi out, no matter what it said, and she couldn't break that promise, not after what had happened.

_**"Foolish girl. Tell me...do you know what she wants?"**_

Kiyoshi shook her head again, more slowly this time.

_**"She wants to have My power without the hassle of a jinchuuriki. That must mean she intends to extract Me from your body. Do you know what happens in an extraction?"**_

"...No."

_**"First, the seal must be broken. That takes no less than two days. Two days of purest agony for you, while they meticulously shred something that has been imprinted on your very soul since infanthood. Then, once the seal is shattered and My chakra begins to pour out of your body - taking your chakra with it, I might add - they will begin sucking it up by using some sort of device, but at the same time, forcing it to come out in a steady wave so that none escapes. While that happens, every cell in your body will be saturated with demonic energy, burning and healing over and over, until there is not enough of My chakra left to heal."**_

Houkou's black lips pulled back in what might have been called a grin on human features._** "The pain produced by that will be beyond anything you have ever experianced, and it will only get worse as My chakra faded from you. And then, in the final hours of the third day, they will rip our souls apart, and drain the last of both of Our chakras. You will die, and I will be imprisoned, at the mercy of humans once again. Not a very desirable future, for either of Us."**_

Kiyoshi found herself nodding, while her knees shook. She felt as if she was going to collapse.

_**"And so, I propose a trade. Your life...in exchange for letting Me out."**_

Kiyoshi stared at it, wondering just how foolish it thought she was. "That would kill me as well! Or let you have my body, which would probably be worse!"

The Gobi gave a sigh of impatience. _**"Foolish child. The seal that binds Me to you is still too strong after ten years for Me to be freed without killing you. Perhaps in a few years...but that is of no consequence. No, I can only take My true form while using your body, which cannot sustain it for long, ten minutes at the most. But that will be more than sufficient to crush the threat to Us...And avenge your 'dearest' grandmother while I'm at it."**_

Ignoring the Gobi's sarcastic tone when talking about Aiko, Kiyoshi thought for a moment. She was low on chakra, her genjutsus weren't fooling this woman, and she had no weapon to defend herself with...apart from Houkou. The act was foolish, desperate, and she knew that her grandmother wouldn't have wanted her to do it...But she had run out of options.

"Do you promise that you'll go back into the seal once your time is up?"

Houkou inclined its head. _**"Yes."  
**_

"You give your word?"

_**"Unlike humans, who break promises as easily as snapping twigs, we bijuu are bound by our word. I shall return to this place once I have completed the task."**_

Kiyoshi let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Closing her eyes, she reached forward, hardly able to believe she was doing it...and shoved the gate open.

* * *

A faint roar echoed, followed by a wave of killing intent that the group sensed far better. Naruto gasped as it hit him, the dragon rocking precariously. Takeshi gave a high-pitched scream, and clung to the dragon tightly. Sayuri threw her arms around Naruto and held on tight, ignoring the cracking noise and the groan that followed.

"...Sayuri-chan...can't...breathe..."

Sayuri loosened her hold a bit, but refused to let go completely. "What was that, nii-san?"

Gulping a little, Naruto peered over the head of the dragon. "I don't know...but I guess we're going to find out."

"WHAT? We're going TOWARDS IT?"

"Kinugakure's that way," Naruto said stubbornly, whilst inwardly cursing his own curiousity. "And look, Takeshi, we're on a flying dragon. We'll get close enough to see what it is from the air. If we don't like it, we'll turn around and fly back. If we can't see it from up here, we'll go a little higher and fly over it - we won't go down to see what it is, okay?"

"_Or, _we can all agree that we don't like it now, and save us all the trouble!"

Naruto shook his head. "There's not another village for miles around, and besides, I think I'd prefer to sleep in a bed tonight, don't you?"

Takeshi wilted. After months of a cold prison cell and sleeping outside, the prospect of a warm, soft bed was definitely appealing...

"Fine, but the instant we see it and agree we don't like it, we're out of here!"

"Agreed," Naruto nodded, and channeled more chakra to the paper beneath them. The dragon picked up speed, and Naruto turned around to face the other two. "We'll be there in ten minutes, twelve max."

* * *

Kabuto grinned as he looked over the prospective subjects in front of him - a small mass of Hoshigakure's finest genin. Newly graduated, they were all reasonably skilled for their age, and all had as much a chance as any of surviving the process. They stared back, some fooled by his friendly smile, some looking at him curiously, wondering who he was, some feeling nervous on account of the fact that the Hoshikage was standing next to him, and one was staring at him suspiciously.

Kabuto examined the latter student. He was of average height, but lean and looked strong for his age. He had long black hair in a short plait, almost aristocratic features, and deep brown eyes, and had the 'future lady-killer' look about him that Kabuto had often heard the nurses at Konoha hospital twittering about. Not only that, but he was the only one that seemed bothered by Kabuto's presence, which suggested either a good character reader, or simply a natural suspicion of strangers, both of which were good for a ninja to have.

Kabuto nodded to himself. If the experiment worked, then the power bestowed on the children would elevate them to candidates for Orochimaru's jutsu, probably above Guren and equal to Kimmimaro, though of course, they would only be silver medals compared to the prize of Naruto. And Orochimaru didn't just value power - he admired beauty, youth and skill, all of which this boy possessed in spades. Yes, Sumaru would be a very good candidate indeed - assuming he survived, of course.

* * *

The team drifted closer to the source of the killing intent, and Naruto was beginning to regret his decision. He had never felt such a dark killing intent before, not even with Orochimaru, and the screaming noises weren't helping either. But just before he could turn the dragon around, Takeshi tapped his shoulder.

"Up ahead!"

Naruto looked straight ahead, and saw a large white shape in the distance, which was jumping and crouching, but staying in one area, like a giant determined to squash an ant on the ground. The sky directly above it was covered in rolling black clouds, and he could see the drifitng smoke and orange tinge that signified a fire.

"Let's get out of here!"

Though Naruto agreed whole-heartedly with Takeshi's statement, the matter was taken out of his hands as a fierce wind blew out of nowhere, sending them careening towards the creature. It raised its head to look at them, and Naruto's breath caught in his throat.

It was a giant dog, about a hundred feet tall, with white fur and maddened violet eyes that were filled with rage. But that wasn't what drew Naruto's attention - it was the five tails that swung behind it, each one doing terrible damage as they smashed the ground below, which was little more than a black smear on the ground now.

_'Oh Kami...It's a tailed beast! I'm looking at a tailed beast!'_

And though he had nursed a grudge against the Yondaime ever since he learned the truth about his status as a jinchuuriki, for the first time, Naruto felt some grudging admiration for the man. The creature in front of him had five tails, and he wanted nothing more than to get away from it, despite having a more powerful one inside him. To have faced the most powerful of them all without having anything but your own skills to back you up...That must have taken some guts.

"'sgoingtoeatusit'sgoingtoeatus!"

While he hadn't lost control of his vocals like Takeshi appeared to have, Naruto had to agree that the thing didn't look too friendly. It was bringing up two of its tails, one of which was covered in flames, the other of which appeared to have a whirlwind swirling around it, and he reached out his hand, searching deep inside himself. He had had no control over the power in the last town, but it had been aimed at the ROOT ninjas and it had done its job in that direction...it just hadn't stopped at them. Well, there seemed to be nothing left of the ground beneath the beast but a crater, so he wouldn't be damaging anything else unlike last time.

But before he could even try to begin, the beast froze, its head cocked to one side. Then suddenly, its whole body shimmered before dissolving into white chakra that flowed in a downwards spiral, that ended in something small that lay unmoving inside the crater. The oppressing killing intent vanished, and the fire that had been burning along the rim winked.

Takeshi stared downwards. "What the fuck just happened?"

Naruto shrugged, looking in the same direction. "I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

"What? But we agreed that we'd go!"

"Whatever it is, it's gone, and I just want to check out the area to see what caused it."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Alright, let's vote. Sayuri, do you mind if I go down there? You and Takeshi can stay on the dragon."

Sayuri bit her lip before shaking her head. "You can go, nii-san. But - please, be careful."

Naruto grinned, urging the dragon down. "I'm always careful." He then shot a few threads around the dragon's thick neck and then jumped off.

"NII-SAN!"

The threads halted his momentum with a painful jolt, and they ended just near enough to the ground for him to land neatly on his feet. He retracted them into his wrist, waved to the two up on the dragon, and then looked around.

The area was scorched and covered in ash; he could still feel the heat through the soles of his boots. An area of what looked like to be a ten-mile radius had been transformed into nothing more than a smoky crater than was completely empty except for him.

_'Wait a minute...'_

There was something curled on the ground a few metres ahead of him. As Naruto drew closer he realized what it was - a girl, about the same age as him, with long white hair that was obscuring her face. She was in a kneeling positon, but her back was hunched over, and she had wrapped both arms around herself, making her difficult to see.

"Hey! Who are you?"

The girl didn't move. If it wasn't for the sound of her ragged breathing, Naruto would have mistaken her for dead. He crouched down in front of her, reaching out slowly. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of the dragon coming down - he had neglected to mention to the other two that to conserve chakra, he'd be bringing it down with him.

Slowly, the girl looked up. She looked dazed, as if she didn't know what was going on, and she was also trembling, like a rabbit that has just realized that it's going to be devoured by a fox. Recognizing the expression from several people in Oto, Naruto tried to speak as gently as he could. "I'm Naruto. Who are you?"

The girl suddenly scrambled back, looking terrified, and Naruto held up his hands, trying to show that he wasn't going to hurt her. Too late did he hear Sayuri's frantic shout.

"NII-SAN, behind you!"

Naruto twisted around. His eyes widened in shock.

"Step away from the jinchuuriki if you want to live."

**I know that the chapter's late and all - those who read my AN in NotL will know why - but seeing that it's over 35,000 words, making it the longest chapter I've ever written, I hope that makes it up!**

**Notes on the manga: *Slams head against desk* Well that clears up a bit about Kushina...But you know, I thought that one of the major themes in Naruto was meant to be about the underdog rising up from poor beginnings to take his place at the top. But Naruto's gone from a poor orphan with a bijuu but no chakra control who grew strong despite that, to a guy who's the son of the Yondaime and scion of a great clan - who, apparently, are related to the Senju (Bet there's going to be a lot more Mokuton fics springing up now). 'Course I'm not one to talk as both my stories have Naruto with kekkei genkais...but still, to me, it's kinda proving pre-Chunin Exam Neji right. Oh, and I am not changing my story to suit the manga. From now on, for those who didn't get the _subtle _hints in earlier chapters, this fic is AU. As will probably be all my fics from now on.**

**Having received several reviews asking about the pairing, I will say now that I haven't made my mind up about any except for one ship which I've never seen before which is not Naruto. However, when I do, it's not taking over the story with everyone and their granny getting paired up, and it won't be showing for a while as the main characters are nearly all prepubescent kids. And finally, some people questioned the rating of the story, and asked about raising it. I'm not including any lemons, as they would probably be painful to read and humiliating for the characters to suffer through, but it may get a bit gory later on. What do you think?**

**And, finally, please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Perfection**

**I don't own Naruto.**

Konan was not pleased.

As she had feared, the jinchuuriki had tapped into her bijuu to help, but rather than just drawing on one or two tails or chakra and then progressing higher as her rage grew, she had immediately transformed into a full-sized Gobi, which had then proceeded to rampage through Kinugakure, turning it into nothing more than a large crater in the ground.

The Akatsuki member had had only a few seconds of warning when the jinchuuriki looked up at her with blazing violet eyes, and bared rapidly growing teeth while a thin film of red chakra stole over her body and then began to grow. But a few seconds were enough for Konan to come up with her normal plan of escape - she split herself into hundreds of paper sheets that flew off as quickly as they could to escape the wrath of the Gobi.

However, as fast as she was, she couldn't completely escape the attack of the creature. Over half of her paper sheets were vaporized when a fiery tail slashed through her swarm, while the fierce winds that had blown up out of nowhere kept scattering them all over the place. It was lucky that jinchuuriki could only sustain the full body of their bijuu for a limited amount of time, because if the creature hadn't withdrawn when it did, Konan doubted that she'd have survived.

However, when she tried to reconfigure herself in order to physically capture the jinchuuriki, the blunette discovered that she simply didn't have enough paper to mould herself back into her original form. She could get her head back, and a fair amount of her upper body, but she couldn't restore anything else. And Konan knew that if she tried to stay in her mangled form, she would soon die.

Of course, Konan knew techniques to replicate her paper and thus restore her body far more quickly than if she flew all the way to the nearest supply - she felt a brief irritation for the Gobi for destroying the house its jinchuuriki had lived in, there had been a lot of the stuff in there - but she disliked performing them, as they drained her chakra, and she was weak enough as it was. But even then, she'd be strong enough to grab the jinchuuriki who would also be severely weakened by her use of the bijuu, and then it would be a simple matter of dragging her to the base, extracting the Gobi, and then settling down to recover.

But then help had arrived for the jinchuuriki, help from most unexpected quarters.

Konan had watched in disbelief as the dragon came into view, a dragon made out of paper. Never in her life had she seen techniques like that outside her own skills - and then one of the people riding the white monstrosity had proceeded to jump off it whilst using uncomfortably familiar black threads as a bungee cord, and had landed in front of the jinchuuriki, speaking gently to the girl who was apparently in shock. There were two ways this could go - either the people would leave the jinchuuriki where she was, or they would take her with them. Konan was not prepared to chase the dratted girl through the sky if these people did take her, and so she decided to take action.

"Hand over the jinchuuriki if you wish to live."

Her tone was cold, her sword was extended; she was every inch the angel committed to defending her god's decrees. No matter how powerful these people were, no matter how exhausted she felt, the trio were just children, and she would cut them down if necessary.

But then the boy turned around.

Konan gasped, feeling as if someone had just punched her. The boy's facial features were unremarkable to her, muddied and half-hidden under a wild halo of silvery-blonde hair. But his eyes were clear as they glared at her, and they were the eyes of a god.

The colour. The ripples. There could be no doubt - this was the Rinnegan.

But how could that _be? _The Rinnegan was more than a dojutsu, more than a tool for power. It was a divine signature, the mark of one chosen by the gods to ascend to their level and purge the world of war. Nagato had been the chosen one, the one born to wield the power. How could this child possess it?

* * *

Naruto glared at the kunoichi, while tugging the white-haired girl to her feet. She offered no resistance, but no help either, and Naruto wondered what was wrong with her. He had seen some people in Oto act like it before...perhaps it was shock? Or maybe it was a result of some chakra exhaustion?

Well, that didn't really matter. What did was the fact that the woman had said 'jinchuuriki.' She had wanted someone to step away from it, either him or the girl...and as the girl had just been crouched on the ground when he came along, that implied that the woman wanted _him _to step away from _her._

Which meant that she didn't know he was a jinchuuriki.

Which meant that the girl was.

The idea both shocked and fascinated him. He had never seen an actual bijuu or a jinchuuriki before, and he had seen both within the span of five minutes. However, he had no time to muse over that, as it was quite clear that this particular jinchuuriki was in trouble.

With a frown, he stared at the woman. She had blue hair and cool grey-gold eyes, and he supposed that some would call her beautiful. However, her face was cold and stern, with not an ounce of pity visible in her expression, which soured Naruto towards her instantly.

Behind the woman, Takeshi and Sayuri were already jumping off the dragon, ready to battle. The woman spun around, looking annoyed. "Please do not try to interfere. If you do, I will destroy you."

The duo halted, eyes flickering over to him. Takeshi was examining the woman, trying to judge if he could either fight her or get past her to Naruto. Sayuri, on the other hand, was already reaching for her arm, clearly about to unseal a weapon. The woman seemed unfazed by this, looking almost amused, in fact.

Naruto let his lips curl back from his sharp teeth, one arm slung around the white-haired girl to support her. She appeared to be half-way unconscious, but her glazed eyes were terrified, and her fingers, which Naruto noted distantly were tipped with sharp nails that resembled claws, were curled tightly around his own, like a child clinging to a parent for comfort. It was quite clear that she did not want to go with the woman - and it was equally clear that the woman wasn't going to just let her walk off without a fight.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki considered this. On one hand, it really was none of his business, and his ambition was to keep his head down, not get into fights with every ninja he came across - a goal, he ruefully admitted, he wasn't coming close to succeeding. On the other hand though, it would be incredibly callous to just shake a terrified girl off his arm and leave her to a rather suspicious looking woman, and he also wanted to know just why the woman was after this jinchuuriki - if it was a personal matter, then that was fine, but if the reason why she was after the girl was _because _she was a jinchuuriki...well, if she was going after one jinchuuriki, who was to say that she wouldn't go after another?

"Why do you want her, anyway?"

The girl's eyes widened, perhaps thinking that he was trying to offer a trade. If he was - which he _wasn't, _by the way - then the woman clearly wasn't interested. "That is none of your concern. Give her to me now, or I will not be merciful."

Well, diplomacy was clearly failing. Hmmm. Well, from what he knew of his 'immortality', he couldn't be burned, stabbed, disembowelled or crushed to death, nor could he die of blood-loss. The woman didn't seem to have anything on her that could do anything else - oh, perhaps it was stupid of him to just assume that from appearances, but Naruto figured that he could take this gamble.

"No."

The girl relaxed minutely against him, but Naruto was far from happy as the woman held out her hand. "As you wish."

And then, as Naruto watched in disbelief, cracks appeared in her skin, splitting her face into even segments, which then peeled away to reveal..._paper_?

It was an odd transformation, graceful but surreal as the woman split herself into hundreds of paper sheets that flew up into the air. Sayuri and Takeshi then took the chance to dart over to his side, while Naruto glared up at the swarm. He had never seen origami ninjutsu outside of his own powers, but he could already see that the woman was far more skilled than him. That meant that fighting her paper to paper was pointless (though he mentally moved 'mastering paper' further up his list of priorities, as he was envisioning uses for it even as he came up with a plan to combat it.)

Well, though the woman might be more skilled, Naruto was assuming that the practice behind the technique was the same - using chakra to manipulate the paper. And in that case, he had a good weapon against it.

Unhooking the girl's arm from around his shoulder and letting her fall (it might seem callous, but as he was doing this to help her out, he figured that it could be overlooked in the grand scheme of things) Naruto unsheathed the dagger/sword, while letting the black threads shoot out from his shoulder, whipping around his body as they sought to shred anything in their path-

And the two blueheads on the field stared in shock as recognition jolted in their heads.

_'Samehada? It can't be! Impossible!' _

_'How the hell did he get a Hoshigaki sword? He's not a clan member! They don't have dojutsus! And they don't have those black wire thingies! What **is **this kid? And for that matter...I really need to find out what the hell these jinchuuriki are. It's like there's a market for them!'_

Sayuri, not knowing anything about the sword apart from the fact that it was Naruto's - she had never touched it, but something compelled her not to - had already plucked out two puppets, handling one on each hand. They clattered to their feet, metal glinting in the sun, and the paper reacted instantly, hurling itself towards the trio.

Naruto waited a moment before jumping, his sword in his hand. Any paper that the weapon came into contact with crumpled up and fell to the ground, drained of the chakra supporting it, while the threads darted through the air, slicing the paper into bits. At the same time, Naruto shot chakra strings from the fingers of his free hand, using them to whirl the papers around, knocking them off balance, and creating a vortex of confusion around him, despite the numerous wounds he received when his chest was peppered with the stuff.

Takeshi swore as a paper kunai sliced his cheek, already forming hand-seals. A blue-white glow crackled over his skin, before the lightning convalesced into small balls that flew everywhere, burning whatever they touched. Though it was effective in keeping the paper off, Naruto could tell from the fluctuation of Takeshi's chakra and from the panting noise the older boy was making, that the technique was draining him, and if he carried on, he would soon be out of the fight.

Sayuri waited patiently for a moment, before sending her puppets flying forward, slashing at the paper that was shaping itself into kunai and shuriken. Unfortunately, the puppets had been designed to grapple with opponents either the same size or larger, and the small pieces were easily slipping past them.

But even as the group struggled individually, Konan was far more worse for the wear. Escaping from a murderous bijuu and reforming herself had taxed her greatly, and while she was a fearsome kunoichi, her abilities were suited towards spying - Yahiko and Nagato had always been the heavy-hitters of their group, not her. And while perhaps it would be possible to kill the three, she was wary of the Rinnegan child - without any training whatsoever, Nagato had used his dojutsu to kill two full-grown shinobi, and this child looked far more vicious than her gentle childhood friend, even if he hadn't displayed any of Pein's powers - and also puzzled.

The Rinnegan. The sword. The threads. The chakra strings. Four powers that were displayed by four separate members of the Akatsuki - and this child had shown all of them. If that wasn't something worth reporting to Pein, Konan didn't know what was. And Madara, especially, would be very interested. True, it would mean that she would have to give up the Gobi - but it was only a matter of time, days perhaps, before another member was sent out after it, and the bijuu would be retrieved. After all, the full plan would not be able to proceed at all until the Kyuubi was found, and so a small delay like this did not really matter.

Her decision made, Konan glanced down at the four children on the ground. The blue-haired boy and little girl she cared nothing about. But the other two...She would remember them. With that, the self-proclaimed angel reconfigured her paper sheets into small planes, which zipped off into the night.

* * *

Naruto stared up in the sky in disbelief. "Did she just...go?"

Sayuri wandered over to him, her head tilted back as she surveyed the last bits of paper swooping away. "I...I think so. But why'd she leave?"

Naruto shrugged, only to wince as the throbbing pain in his chest became apparent, as well as the taste of blood in his throat. Looking down, he saw that his shirt was soaked in blood, and there were half a dozen paper arrows sticking out of his chest. Wincing, he began yanking them out one by one. However, the last one, which had pierced the skin only a few millimetres right of his heart, was being particularly stubborn - and painful. Gritting his teeth, he tried to pull it out again, only to be interrupted by a gasp.

Takeshi was staring at him, face pale. "How the fuck are you still standing?"

Naruto lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug, still tugging on the arrow. "I'm used to it," he muttered, remembering how Guren had shoved crystal needles into his flesh whenever he hadn't finished fast enough. He had to admit though, though at the time he had thought her to be a sadistic bitch with no empathy (in fact, he still thought that) he was grateful to her. If she hadn't been so thorough in his 'education', he wouldn't have been able to get away from Oto at all.

Takeshi swallowed, fighting back naseau. He was from Kiri, he was used to blood and gore and all the rest - but he had never seen someone run through so many times that they should be collapsing with internal bleeding, if not dead, just standing there, calmly pulling weapons from his flesh. That was more than pain endurance, it was something strange, something unnatural, and part of him was screaming for him to get away, fast.

But the rest of him - the large part that was grateful for Naruto for taking him along, the part that had just seen him fight in defense of a girl he had just met, the part that was just plain impressed by the fact that a kid younger than him was able to take that much punishment and carry on - leaned forward, examining the wounds.

They appeared to be healing already, at a rate that definitely wasn't natural. While that in itself wasn't that shocking - thanks to their kekkei genkai, the Chiseigyokis had been fast healers themselves - Takeshi had never seen healing like this. Tiny black threads were stitching the wounds together - and when the flesh had been joined at the seams, they dissolved, leaving behind clear skin that looked completely undamaged. Three out of eight wounds had already healed completely, and the rest seemed to be following - unfortunately, that included the one that still had the arrow in it. The skin was closing around the wound, trapping it in the flesh.

Quickly, Takeshi grabbed it, and helped Naruto tug it out. It came free with a sickening squelch, and to the Chiseigyoki's bewilderment, the head seemed to have burned away, the charred shaft crumbling in his hand. Naruto gave a sigh of relief, but Takeshi suddenly remembered a common practice of small ninja weapons - poison. Quickly, he placed a hand on the healing wound, channelling chakra into the other boy's blood.

The Chiton wasn't really a fancy, offensive bloodline like the Shikotsumyaku or the Futton. True, its users could harden their blood into weapons such as whips or swords - but that consumed a large amount of chakra, and most figured that it wasn't worth it. Instead, they focused on the inside of the body and the functions blood performed - once a Chiseigyoki had access to their enemy's bloodstream, that was it. They could cut off oxygen, stop the blood clotting, kill off white blood cells, mess with body temperature - in fact, there was very little they couldn't do once the blood transferral was complete. The problem however, was the transferral in the first place - there were jutsus, but they required physical contact, and using their clan style had gotten more than one clan member killed.

For that reason, most of the clan had turned to medical ninjutsu instead, finding it a less dangerous and more satisfying profession. While Takeshi had not been one of them - he had wanted to be like his father, not his mother - he did know the basics of checking for poison and other irregularities. What he could do after finding the poison was limited to a comforting "yeah...you're screwed," but it was the thought that counted.

Naruto frowned at him as he felt the familiar sensation of chakra being funnelled into him. Behind Takeshi, Sayuri was casually stretching - in a perfect position to bring her hand-saw down on his neck if he tried anything funny. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to see if you've been poisoned."

"Have I?"

Takeshi tilted his head with a frown. He knew how to detect poison in blood, knew how to look out for it - and as far as he could 'see', there was none of that in Naruto's blood. And yet...

There was something there, lingering in the tissues, the faintest trace of something alien, something that shouldn't be there. It didn't seem to be doing any harm, and it could have just been the after-effects of some kind of jutsu...but it felt weird.

"Well?"

Blinking, Takeshi looked up at Naruto's rippled eyes. "Um...You don't seem to."

Naruto nodded, straightening up. "Then let's get moving."

"Hey...nii-san?"

They both turned to look at Sayuri, who was peering at the now fully unconscious form of the girl. "Is she coming with us?"

Naruto cursed himself. He had wanted to find out what the woman wanted with a jinchuuriki, but he hadn't really thought the whole thing through, as now the woman had gotten away with information on him, could be back any moment for revenge, and he happened to be stuck with said jinchuuriki.

Well, he supposed he couldn't just leave her - if the woman did come back, she'd be helpless against being captured. Besides, he'd just been run through with eight times, and he refused to have that be for nothing.

His decision made, he awkwardly picked her up and turned to the paper dragon - only to realize that, as the woman had escaped by flying through the air, flying on it would not perhaps be the best course of action.

...He _really _needed to start thinking these things through.

* * *

"Tell me, Jiraiya" Kushina said calmly, one hand on her sword, "why I shouldn't just gut you here and now."

Jiraiya gulped at the expression on her face, backing away slightly. Kushina had never been a legend like the Sannin or Minato. She had been an ANBU captain - a skilled one to be sure, but just one among many, and Jiraiya had beaten hundreds like her over the course of his life. However, Kushina never gave up, never forgot. She pushed herself to her limits, and always set a goal for herself to achieve. If that goal became Jiraiya's death, then he had no doubt that she would achieve it somehow.

"Now, Kushina, let's not be too hasty-"

"Hasty? Hasty? Jiraiya, I've spent _five years _in a cold, damp cell, holding out against torture for the sake of my son - and when I get out, what do I find? That Orochimaru's kidnapped him, performed experiments on him and when he escaped as I did, sent people to hunt him. My son is being hunted down by some of the most twisted individuals in the world, every second I waste here is a second I could spend looking for him myself, and you call me hasty?"

Jiraiya sighed. "Kushina, charging off blindly after Naruto isn't going to help anyone, especially him. You need to know all the facts."

Kushina held up a hand. "What more facts do I need? I get kidnapped and dragged off for torture and imprisonment. Naruto is left alone in Konoha with no one to care for him, despite the fact that a _**godfather**_" - she shot a poisonous look at Jiraiya, who winced - "was appointed for these exact circumstances. After a few years of struggling alone, he in turn is abducted by a snake who should have died, but didn't because Sarutobi didn't want to kill his little darling. Said snake performs experiments on him to create a nice little body for when his old one wears out, ignoring the fact that he was a terrified _child. _And now, after we've both escaped, Orochimaru is looking for him to drag him back to Oto, and you are currently standing in my way and preventing me from helping him. So tell me, Jiraiya, what don't I know?"

"How about the fact that Naruto's seal's weakened? That thanks to the experiments Orochimaru's performed, your son happens to have the potential to be powerful, _incredibly _powerful, but he has no idea how to use it? That he's got two major dojutsus and Kami knows how many other kekkei genkais and there are hordes of villages out there who would love to get their hands on him and use him for breeding stock?"

Kushina gritted her teeth. "How do you know that?"

Jiraiya folded his arms. "I'm a spy-master, Kushina. How do you think?"

Kushina's voice was sickly-sweet as she spoke her next question. "And how long, pray, did you know about Naruto being in Orochimaru's clutches before you acted?"

"I went to rescue him as soon as I could, Kushina, but there was such chaos...it was impossible to find him. Later, I found that he had gone off in a random direction, and when I couldn't track him, I returned here to report to sensei."

Kushina's fingers drummed against her hip. "So, what are these kekkei genkai?"

Jiraiya hesitated. "They're...incredible for a lack of a better word, Kushina. According to the files I salvaged from Oto, he's not only got the Rinnegan and sharingan, he can survive practically any wound inflicted on him, he can move through solid matter, he can use puppet strings, paper, control magnetic forces...He could easily surpass Minato. The problem is, they didn't teach him much apart from puppetry, taijutsu and kenjutsu - you know, to prepare his body for Orochimaru. An incredible amount of power, and it's sitting in the hands of a kid who doesn't know what to do with it."

Kushina shrugged. "All the more reason to find him then."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "And what will you do when you find him?"

"Oh, I don't know...Train him up? Help him develop his powers? Fight off those whom Orochimaru sends after him? Keep him safe? Do everything that Konoha wouldn't do?"

"Kushina, don't be stupid. Do you have any idea what kind of people are looking for him? We're not talking about petty chunin or even jounin here...More like kage-level ninja who have no qualms about murdering a child or turning him into their personal tool. Do you really think you can protect him against those sort of people?"

Kushina stared at him coolly. "Not on my own, no. But I'm not completely friendless..and there's always the option of another village. I hear Kumo's very interested in the bijuu...or perhaps Suna?"

Jiraiya didn't know whether she was bluffing or not, but the very idea horrified him. No matter what the flimsy alliances said, Konoha was one of the most hated villages, due to its power and status, as well as the fact that it always seemed to bounce back, no matter what was thrown at it. But someone of Naruto's power combined with the Kyuubi's rage and strength...

Jiraiya didn't see how Konoha could recover from that. And Naruto had been given plenty of reason to hate Konoha, especially if what Jiraiya suspected about his abduction was correct. The idea of someone loathing Konoha as much as Jiraiya loved it was disturbing, but it was the truth. There was only so far that someone could be pushed before they snapped...and from what Jiraiya had read from the files, when it came to Konoha, Naruto had snapped long ago.

So, now, he was faced with a dilemma. Did he give Kushina the files and the information about the groups hunting him, thus providing Naruto with protection...and potentially working against Konoha? Or did he turn away, and stay loyal to the village that worshipped him and his student, but hated his godson?

With a sigh, the Sannin made up his mind. He had already decided that, for good or ill, he would start being the godfather Minato had wanted him to be. And so, he reached into his pocket, and withdrew the files. "Read these."

Kushina didn't move. "What are they?"

"Files on Naruto that we managed to get from Oto, as well as the information I've scrounged up on the people after him. It's not much, but it should help."

Kushina slowly extended a hand, accepting the file with a nod. "I see."

"Kushina...you do realize that if you and Naruto move against Konoha, I will have no choice but to fight you? I'm sorry for what I didn't do, and if I could back in time to prevent Orochimaru from getting his hands on Naruto, I would take it in a heartbeat. But if you try to attack, I will kill you."

Kushina sighed, looking weary. "I know, I know. But Jiraiya..."

The Sannin leaned forward as her voice trailed away. "What?"

Fast as a whip, Kushina brought her sword around, placing it at the base of his neck. "In a straight up fight, I will not win, but I am a kunoichi, and an ANBU, and I don't fight fair. And I tell you, that the instance Konoha tries anything against my family, I will not just attack it, I will burn it to the ground."

With that, she swept the blade away, and sauntered off into the night. Jiraiya watched her go, and felt a strange prickling sensation, as if someone was watching him. But when he turned around, he saw nothing but the village of Konoha, with its strong walls and the proud, wise visages of the four kages watching over it.

And if the shadows made Minato's face look saddened as he gazed down on the village he had sacrificed everything for...Jiraiya ignored it.

* * *

Takeshi glared at Naruto, the gesture all he could do to convey his disdain as his arms were currently occupied with holding the unconscious white-haired girl. "I hate you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, while rolling a small blob of clay between the fingers of his right hand. "Oh, really?"

"_Yes_, really. Why am I carrying her?"

Naruto shrugged, looking up at Takeshi's taller frame. "Why not? You're bigger than me, and you have nothing else to carry, since Sayuri was nice enough to carry your pack."

Sayuri grinned at the compliment, while Takeshi gritted his teeth. "By a couple of inches! And you've only got a sword to carry! Besides, it was _your _idea to rescue her! Not mine! Hence it should be your responsibility to carry her!"

Naruto shook his head. "I carried her for a while already, so quit whining. Besides-" he lifted the sword, staring at the jagged scales, "this thing's heavier than it looks."

Takeshi's eyes narrowed. "You know, I've been wondering...where did you find that thing?"

Sayuri's shoulders stiffened under the weight of the two packs, while Naruto stared ahead silently, clearly thinking out an answer.

"...Found it."

"Where?"

"Not sure." The tone of Naruto's voice made it clear that the conversation had been closed and sealed with twelve different kinds of fuinjutsu. Takeshi mentally added the sword under '_Thing's He's Obviously Hiding'_ checklist in his mind, before wincing as he stumbled over a small dip in the ground.

They weren't travelling over any roads, Naruto choosing to take the less-travelled rural route instead, and it was proving tough on the Kiri native, who, having been locked up for three months, wasn't exactly in peak condition. The one thing that was keeping him going was the fact that Sayuri, despite being the slowest in the group, seemed to be striding along the ground with no trouble whatsoever, her breathing quiet and even. Hell would freeze over before Takeshi gave up before a little girl, and so he ignored the growing ache in his muscles and carried on walking.

Naruto welcomed the silence, as it gave him time to think over what had just happened. Though he hadn't seen it long before she dissolved into paper, the woman's clothing had been quite distinctive - a black cloak with red clouds emblazoned on it. And Naruto could remember very well when he had seen that clothing last - in Oto, when he and Sayuri had been confronted by that high-level ninja.

Naruto had never seen the man before, and he had been making no move to either run away or defend the base, meaning that he was probably one of the attackers, a fact that was reinforced by the fact that he had been hostile towards them - any ninja under Orochimaru's command would know that his body was to be as unharmed as possible, and would have not tried a physical attack straight away.

So...Someone with a grudge against Orochimaru. A woman with skills similar to his. An attack on a jinchuuriki. Dots were forming on a match, dots that Naruto was beginning to join, though the main pieces remained elusive - and he didn't like the way his thoughts were going.

That was the main reason why he had decided to take the unconscious girl with them - they needed to find out what was going on, and if the woman had said anything about more people in the strange organization.

He had enough enemies. He didn't need any more.

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts as he felt a drop of water splash against his head. Looking up, he found himself staring at a cloudy grey sky, and felt glad that he had decided not to fly - though it was more tiring, he didn't want to find out how well he could fly through a storm, as it was clear from the blackening clouds that one was brewing.

Sure enough over the course of the next hour, the patter of raindrops had changed into a cascade, which changed into a complete downpour. A cold wind began to blow, whipping their hair in their faces, while thunder began to rumble ominously in the sky. The ground became soggy beneath their feet, mud sucking at their boots. It was becoming clear that they needed to find shelter - and soon. Not only were they cold, wet, and miserable, but as Sayuri was made out of metal and wood, prolonged exposure to heavy wind and rain was not good for her.

Not to mention she'd be a good conductor for lightning.

Naruto was beginning to contemplate telling Sayuri to unseal the paper so that he could test it out by creating a shelter when the puppet stopped, squinting into the distance. "Is something there?"

The jinchuuriki looked up, his own eyes narrowed. There did seem to be some sort of building in the distance, a large one if the hills surrounding it was any indicator - but something was...off about it. He could see the faint gleam of chakra encompassing its walls, but while he had seen chakra-shrouded buildings before (either the result of seals or housing a lot of chakra users) he had never seen one quite like it before. The colour of the chakra - a rich, emerald green - was unusual in itself, but the way it looked so deeply meshed within the walls made it look almost as if the building itself was using chakra.

But that was impossible...wasn't it?

Takeshi gave a whoop of delight when he saw it. "Awesome! Let's go!"

"What if there are people inside?" Sayuri asked worriedly. Takeshi rolled his eyes. "We'll say we're a bunch of orphans - you know, try the pity angle. And if that doesn't work, a place that size has got to have a shed, or stables, or something. We can just sneak in there and wait for the storm to pass."

Naruto still felt uneasy, but it seemed like a reasonable plan, and if he didn't like the look of the people there, they could always just leave. With that decided, the group pressed on, buoyed up by the thought of getting out of the rain.

As they got closer, Takeshi whistled in appreciation, though there was a slight quiver to the jaunty tune. The building was a castle, with elegant roofs, tall stone walls, and a pair of enormous wooden doors that were taller than all three of them put together. And yet, there was something...off about it. Naruto couldn't put his finger on what exactly, but it gave him the creeps, a sentiment apparently shared by the other two. However, a flash of lightning in the sky prompted them to warily walk up the steps.

Takeshi jerked his head at the door. "Well, one of you two knock!"

Sayuri looked at the door nervously. "Why can't you do it?"

"Because my arms are full!"

"Well...nii-san better do it! I can't reach the knocker."

"Neither can I" Naruto pointed out. The knocker hung about three feet above his head, ridicolusly impractical. Who the hell had designed the place?

However, before they could argue further, the doors creaked open. It was too dark to reveal anything behind it, but Naruto couldn't see the chakra of any human beings...As if the doors had opened on their own.

Takeshi drew closer to the other two. "So...Who wants to go into the creepy castle first?"

Thunder boomed in the sky, and Naruto shook his head. They couldn't stay out here, so they would have to take their chances. He strode over the threshold, hearing the muffled footsteps of the other two behind him. However, as soon as Takeshi had stepped into the castle, the doors slammed shut behind them.

Now very uneasy, Naruto looked around. They were in a long, narrow hallway with several doors leading off to different rooms. Apart from the nearest door, from which a warm yellow light was spilling out into the hallway, there were no lamps or candles to light the darkness - and there was also no noise at all apart from the sound of their footsteps and breathing. It seemed like they were the only ones inside.

Takeshi raised his voice. "Hello? Anyone home?"

There was no answer.

One hand on the hilt of his weapon, Naruto peered around the door of the lit room. It appeared to be some kind of dining-room, with a long table that was covered in expensive-looking dishes. However, there was no one in there at all.

The jinchuuriki leaned forward, putting a hand on one of the plates. His rippled eyes flickered up to look at Takeshi and Sayuri who had followed him into the room. "It's still warm."

Takeshi frowned, gently setting the unconscious girl on the floor. "Do you think we just missed them?"

Naruto shook his head. "We would have heard them moving about, wouldn't we?"

Sayuri, who had been standing quietly by the chairs, pointed at the wall. "Who's that?"

Naruto glanced at the direction she had been pointing at. There was a large portrait hanging on the wall, depicting a serious-looking man dressed in armour and clasping a sword. Naruto didn't recognize him, but he had read about samurai who had worn armour similar to this man. "I don't know...Perhaps the owner of this place?"

Takeshi shrugged, his eyes scanning the portrait. "Probably some ancestor or something. If he is here, though, I wouldn't want to run into him."

Naruto had to agree. There was something unnerving about the man's stare, as if he really could see the three of them standing before him. He wasn't the type Naruto wanted to run into on a dark, stormy night.

The blonde surveyed the room one more time before turning to the other two. "Well, we won't finding anything out by staying here. I'm going to look around."

Takeshi glanced at the girl on the floor. "What about her?"

"Sayuri can stay with her. We shouldn't be gone for long, anyway - I'm not going to explore every inch of the place. I just want to see if there's anyone else here, and if not, where they went."

Sayuri nodded, sitting down next to the girl. Despite her show of obedience, she was rather nervous about this place. This room had light, it was true, and it seemed a lot less creepy than the other dark rooms...but being with Naruto would have made her feel a whole lot safer.

Takeshi on the other hand, was looking forward to exploring. It was what he and his peers had done in Kiri when they were bored and no one was around to train them - there had been lots of caves and old, abandoned houses to hunt through. He wasn't afraid of some old castle, no sir!

The fact that his hands were free and ready to flicker into a jutsu at any moment meant nothing.

Naruto pulled open the door, and with a final glance at the portrait, stepped out into the darkness of the hall.

* * *

Konan was trembling with exhaustion by the time she returned to Amegakure, having flown without rest until she reached it. She had contacted Pein via her ring, and told him that she had failed to retrieve the Gobi and she needed to speak with him. Her god had been surprised by her failure, but she didn't think that he would punish her. As different as Pein was from Nagato, he remained protective of her, and she liked to think that she was still the only one who truly understood his vision.

However, there was no chance for her to rest once she landed - she could feel the all-seeing eyes of Pein as soon as she stepped foot in the tower. He - or, more accurately, his Naraku path - was leaning against the door, rippled eyes regarding her calmly.

Konan bowed her head, shame welling up inside her. Pein's vision was great, glorious, and because of her failure, his plan had been set back until they could retrieve the Gobi. But then again, perhaps the information she carried was almost as important - a new Rinnegan could throw a huge wench in the workings of their plan, and it needed to be accounted for.

"Was the Gobi more powerful than anticipated? Our intelligence suggested that its jinchuuriki was not even a qualified ninja...was that wrong?"

Konan shook her head, allowing the remains of her paper to melt into her skin. "Not the jinchuuriki...Another, unforeseen element."

Pein raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"The Rinnegan."

Suddenly, he was not a relaxed god humouring his angel, he was standing in front of her, looking as shocked as she had ever seen him. "What?"

Taking a deep breath, Konan began her tale, never noticing the red eyes watching from the shadows.

* * *

For her age, Kiyoshi was reasonably intelligent - capable of sulking for days on end, and prone to the odd bout of immaturity like most of her peers, but good at analyzing any bad situations she got herself into and coming up with the safest escape. And so, when faced with a choice between transforming into the Gobi or being carted off to die a slow and painful death, the answer seemed pretty simple to her.

It did look quite convnient on paper - Gobi comes out, Gobi takes care of problem, Gobi goes back in, and her in control again. But there were several factors that the albino hadn't taken in account in her terror.

The first one was that Gobi was a cruel and bloodthirsty beast, who had nursed a grudge against Kinugakure and Aiko for years. Having been denied vengeance on Aiko on account of the fact that she had carelessly gotten herself killed, the bijuu was all too pleased to take it out on her murderer, given that the woman was threatening it. But as Kiyoshi hadn't specifically asked for a certain way for Houkou to kill Konan, such as 'take control over my body and rip her throat out', the bijuu was free to do things its own way - and that was by ramapaging through Kinugakure, destroying everything in its path with the hope that its attacker was one of those things.

Death came quickly to the village, with a great deal of it being destroyed in the first forty seconds as the Gobi exploded out of Kiyoshi's body in a storm of toxic chakra. Practically none of them had seen it coming, with the sole exception of Rishou. The old man had heard Konan asking questions about the Gobi, and had seen her break into Aiko's house, but the hatred of the beast that had slaughtered three of his sons had convinced him to neither warn or help his old friend. It sounded like the woman had only been after Kiyoshi, and apart from Aiko, no one had wanted her around. She was dangerous, bad luck, and the sooner they were rid of her, the better.

Rishou had about five seconds after he felt the sinister chakra flare to realize that it was Kiyoshi who was about to be rid of them before his house was caught in the explosion. He didn't live long enough to finish cursing her, however.

The second thing that Kiyoshi hadn't really considered was what letting the Gobi out would actually involve. For a full transformation was just that - not a chakra cloak, not just a load of increased power, but the actual physical transformation into a bijuu. Kiyoshi's small frame had been flooded with sizzling poisonous chakra. Her skin and muscles had been melted off her bones which were broken and regrown to fit a creature that was two hundred times as big as her, before being covered in Houkou's own muscle and fur. Every cell in her body was reworked from being a human to being the physical embodiment of a large mass of chakra - and it had hurt like hell. Were it not for the fact that Kiyoshi had been too caught up in the Gobi's rage and bloodlust to register it beyond a dim perception, she would probably have gone mad from the pain.

As it was, only the deal she had made with the Gobi kept the bijuu from completely taking control of her body, a fact that it had snidely reminded her of as it withdrew back into her. She had not taken a back-seat exactly - it was more like she had _become _Houkou, its will and desires twisting and tearing at her mind until she was drowning in it, until she couldn't even remember her own name or why she had let the creature out in the first place. While Gobi had controlled her actions, from Kiyoshi's perspective, she had been the one massacring the village, the one who was burning and killing and eating the people who had been around her her whole life.

To have gone from a physically weak jinchuuriki who, despite loathing the villagers and feeling no sorrow when any of them died never actually intended to attack them, to a bijuu with all its lust for killing and power was... disorientating, to put it mildly. But then being dumped back into her own body (a transformation equally painful to the first one) and actually realizing what had happened, what she had lost and what she had done...And then realizing that it was all for nothing, that the woman was still alive and going to kill her anyway...

It was little wonder that Kiyoshi had gone semi-cationic. All she could hear was the laughter of Houkou, who, having got its vengeance, had decided to give up on her and try escaping from whatever vessel they put it in next, while her eyes were screwed shut, the warm blackness being better than having to see the ugly, marred landscape with her murderer forming out of paper in front of her.

But then she had heard a strange noise; like a bird flapping its wings, only far louder. She was dimly aware of someone dropping down in front of her, of a hand gently touching her arm - and then she opened her eyes and saw the Rinnegan.

It was difficult to describe exactly what happened next. Everything seemed to fade away, Houkou's voice silenced, the ache in her body forgotten, her fear and grief and anger not calmed exactly, but overlapped with a strange serenity that she had never felt before in her life. If she had died there and then, she would have gone peacefully.

However, her exhaustion finally overcame her, and she slumped to the ground, fully expecting not to wake up again.

Her dreams were not pleasant; filled with screams and fire and demons, with old women slumped on the ground and the murderess, who suddenly transformed into Houkou. However, the worst dream was definitely the last one - she was walking in a forest, but the plants kept grabbing at her and ripping away her limbs, tearing bits of her piece by piece, until all that was left was red chakra leaking out of the wounds, which began reforming itself into white, furry limbs. Kiyoshi kept kicking and screaming, trying to get them off her, but no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't get them off-

"Hey! Wake up! You're hurting yourself!"

Kiyoshi's eyes snapped open. At once, she became dimly aware of three things: 1) She was lying on something very hard and uncomfortable, 2) every muscle in her body was screaming in pain and 3) there was someone leaning over her.

Kiyoshi reacted on instinct, kicking wildly to get them over her while rolling off to the side. Her muscles shrieked in protest, but she ignored them, crouching on the floor as she glared at her attacker, who was-

A little girl who was staring at her in bewilderment. "What are you _doing_?"

"Who are you? Where am I?" Kiyoshi demanded, her voice weak and raspy. Her eyes darted nervously around the room. She appeared to be in some kind of dining-room, the smells drifting off the table naseauting to her uncomfortably full stomach and her mouth, which tasted of blood and something similar to the burnt chicken she had eaten the day before. There was no sign of anyone else apart from the little girl, who was still on the floor from where Kiyoshi had kicked her. She glared back at the jinchuuriki with blue eyes that seemed unnaturally shiny.

"You're in a castle, 'cause it started raining and we had to find somewhere to sleep, and Takeshi wanted to drop you. He and nii-san went off to explore 'cause there's no one else here, and it's really creepy, and they haven't been back for a while. And then you started kicking, so I went over to wake you up, and you kicked _me._"

"Ummm...sorry," Kiyoshi muttered, still in her crouched position. If her interaction with her peers was limited, time spent with those years younger than her was practically none-existent. She had no siblings or cousins, and no one in the village would have dreamed of letting their young, vulnerable offspring so much as look at her. As such, she had no idea what she was meant to do in such situations. Luckily, the little girl seemed happy to take the lead."

"It's okay...the floor can't hurt me." This was said with the faintest ring of what sounded like bitterness, but Kiyoshi had no idea what for, or if she'd even interpreted it correctly. "And you don't kick very hard. What's your name, anyway? "

Kiyoshi sagged back against the wall, feeling a combination of fatigue and numbness overtake her. She was trying her best to concentrate at the matter at hand, pretending that that was all she had to focus on - _'don'tthinkaboutKinudon'tthinkaboutHoukoudon'thinkaboutobaachandon'tthinkaboutanything- _but she could feel it pressing down on her. Curling her fingers into her palms, ignoring the pinpricks of pain that her nails left behind, she raised her head, looking at the little girl. "Kiyoshi. Yamiki Kiyoshi. How...How did I get here? I thought..."

The little girl shrugged. "We came to see what was going on - Takeshi didn't want to, he said it was a bad idea, but nii-san's in charge, and he wanted to come, so we did...And we saw that big dog." She twirled a strand from the brightly coloured rug on the floor around her finger. "When it went away, nii-san went down to see what was going on...And we found you. Only that lady wanted to take you away." She frowned. "I didn't like her. But why did she want you?"

"I'm a jinchuuriki." The response was not thought about, given by a girl who had always been surrounded by people who knew what it was. Less than a second later, her mind caught up with her mouth, and she tensed immediately, prepared to spring if the little girl made any hostile moves.

But the little girl only sat there and looked at her, her face unreadable. It was impossible to say what she felt about the news, or even if she understood it at all. A few seconds later, she shrugged again. "Okay. Nii-san didn't like her either. He wouldn't let her take you, so she hit us with this paper...but then she flew away. And it started raining. And...we came here. I'm Sayuri, by the way."

"It's...nice to meet you," Kiyoshi said warily, hoping that that would be the end of any more social niceties. Luckily, it seemed like Sayuri agreed, as she rose to her feet and looked outside the room, before sighing heavily. "Nii-san isn't back yet..."

Kiyoshi frowned. She couldn't shake off the feeling that someone else was in the room, watching her back - but when she glanced around, she couldn't see anyone else there. The feeling was beginning to drive her mad, and she wanted out of the room.

"Do you want to go and look for him?"

Sayuri froze, one hand resting on the door. "...He said I should stay with you."

"So I'll go with you, then. But I don't want to stay here."

Sayuri nodded unhappily. "There were these funny noises just before you woke up...and that picture keeps _moving._" She nodded at the portrait on the wall. "It doesn't look like it is when you look at it properly, but it does when you start looking away."

Not sure how to reply to that, Kiyoshi slowly pulled herself to her feet, wincing a little. "Well...we'd better get out then."

Sayuri nodded, and, after watching the albino stagger back, extended a hand and yanked Kiyoshi up. The jinchuuriki was surprised by the action - Sayuri was a lot stronger than she looked - but happy to be moving again.

Just as she was stepping out the door with one hand on Sayuri's shoulder to tell where she was in the darkness - she was _not _leaning on her for support - Kiyoshi heard a faint rustling noise. Turning around, she saw a plant pot in a shadowy corner of the room. The brilliant red flowers were swaying slightly, while dark green tendrils were beginning to reach forward, slithering quietly through the carpet.

Kiyoshi slammed the door and fled.

* * *

Kushina gritted her teeth as she read through the files, using every ounce of her concentration to not let her killing intent slip. She had restrained herself from attacking Jiraiya in Konoha or even making that much trouble in the village, driven by her urgent need to find her son before the snake did. But she had absolutely no leads, and so had booked into a small hotel for the night while she studied the files and tried to figure out where her son had gone.

What she read made her blood boil.

Orochimaru had meddled with Naruto's DNA, given him unwanted kekkei genkai, treated him like a lab-rat...but that was far from the full extent of the Sannin's cruelty to her son. In fact, from the day he had been thrown in there, Orochimaru had treated him like a toy, manipulating and taunting him for his own amusement. It wasn't enough that he was trying to steal his body; he wanted to twist Naruto's mind as well.

There were dozens of examples in there that made her furious - forcing Naruto to kill other children, setting monsters on him, making him participate in experiments - but the one she was currently reading now made her feel physically sick.

Naruto had acquired a friend in Otogakure, a little girl that followed him around and seemed to idolize him. And Orochimaru had made him turn her into a creature of wood and metal, made a mockery out of the doll-like child. From the discussion at the bottom of the page about the effects, her son had been overcome with guilt, and the little girl had been traumitized, her body wrecked for life. But the writer of the report (a 'Y.K') hadn't been annoyed about that. No, his anger had come from the fact that Naruto had failed to fully kill her and unlock a new level of the sharingan. Apparently, Orochimaru hadn't wanted to see if the Kyuubi would come out if he asked Naruto directly, so he gave him an impossible, gruesome task that he should have failed.

But Naruto hadn't failed, though some might think that it would have been better for the little girl if he had. There had been no mention of the girl again, just some jottings of a new operation planned on Naruto, but that was it - either they hadn't carried it out in the end or simply did not have enough time to document it properly before he escaped.

Despite or, more exactly, because, all that he had suffered through, apparently Naruto remained as anti-Orochimaru as Konoha was, and apparently was quite defiant of the Sannin. He wouldn't be dragged back to Oto without a huge fight on his part.

Kushina was pulled from her musings by a light creaking noise outside her door. Had that just been it, she might have dismissed it as another guest returning to their room - but then came a light brush of chakra against her senses, so fast that she would have missed it if she hadn't been on high-alert all day. There was someone outside her room, someone trying very hard to suppress their chakra.

Smiling grimly, Kushina drew her blade, and made a few quick handsigns. With a puff of smoke, an exact replica of her appeared. While Kushina remained in the shadows, the clone sauntered over to the door, its own blade held ready to strike. With an overly dramatic gesture (that was the trouble with kage bunshins, they retained the user's personality and when not pressed, Kushina's bunshins could be quite mischievous at times) the clone flung the door opened.

Light spilled into the room, illuminating the painted mask on the person outside the door. Both Kushina and her bunshin froze. _'Hunter-nin!'_

However, before either of the redheads could move, the hunter-nin toppled forward, crashing into the bunshin and dispelling it before they hit the ground. Wide-eyed, Kushina looked up - and saw the last person she had expected to see.

"Utakata?"

The amber-eyed jinchuuriki stared back at her in bewilderment. "Kushina-san?"

Kushina opened her mouth, looked from the dead hunter-nin on the floor to the boy in front of her who was noticeably missing his hiate-ate, and then shook her head in defeat. "I think you had better come in."

**Shorter than normal, but I wanted to get this chapter out quickly, as a new one won't be coming in for a while, due to unforeseen family problems. It should also be noted that I am quite irritated at the moment - out of the goodness of my heart, I volunteered to spend an afternoon with my still-recovering sister, and she decided that we should watch all three Twilight movies, one after the other. If there is worse torture than watching that glittering misogyntic rubbish, I have yet to find it. Reviews would be quite helpful in driving it out of my head.**

**Notes on manga: YES! One of my favourite characters gets to show how youthfully awesome he is against Kisame! Sadly, I don't think he's going to survive this after opening so many gates, but at least he can go out in a blaze of glory.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Perfection**

**I don't own Naruto.**

"Naruto, what's a jinchuuriki?"

Naruto froze, his rippled eyes staring at Takeshi in shock. "_What_?"

Takeshi leaned against the wall, his arm folded as he glared mullishly at the blonde. It had been over an hour since they left Sayuri alone with the unconscious girl, and since then, they'd discovered that a), the castle seemed completely devoid of humans apart from them, and b) that there was something very wrong with it.

Suits of armour with grotesque masks that light flickered behind the eye-holes when they looked at them. Omnious creaking noises that were silenced every time the boys spun around. Lights that would flare brightly and then suddenly die down again. Long, seemingly endless corridors that looked uncomfortably similar to Oto. And then there was the smell, faint though it was - an dank, stomach-curdling stench that reminded Naruto of rotting meat.

Not only that, but Naruto had noticed that the castle seemed utterly spotless. Torches that had clearly been lit only a small while ago were burning, there were no cobwebs or any signs of rats or mice, no dust anywhere. This place couldn't be abandoned - it was far too clean for that.

Had Naruto and Takeshi been ordinary children, they might have dismissed these small things as either someone playing a practical joke, or just their imaginations warping what wasn't there. But both boys had learned the cost of replacing fear with a pretence of normality, and so they noted down every small movement, every abnormal shift, and it was adding up to a very disturbing picture. In fact, Naruto was coming very close to just going back to Sayuri and the other girl and leaving the place.

However, all thoughts of how creepy the place was were blown out of his mind by Takeshi's question. It wasn't as if he wasn't expecting the whole 'jinchuuriki' thing - twice now, he had faced opponents with the blue-haired boy in the area, and both times they had mentioned the word - but he'd really have rather Takeshi never bring it up. It would have made things much, much simpler.

Sadly, it seemed that, once again, things had gotten complicated, and the jinchuuriki stared at his companion, wondering how to proceed. He wasn't one to really plan ahead into the future - he had an innate gift for coming up with strategies in the blink of an eye when it came to fighting in the heat of the moment, but actually reasoning and puzzling out years into the future?

Forget it.

And so, he had no idea how things were going to pan out in the little group. Takeshi clearly didn't want to stick around in the place they had left - but Naruto had no guarantees that he would stay with them for very long at all, and once he left the group, he could tell anyone about what he knew - and there were definitely people Naruto would far rather to remain ignorant about him for a long time.

But at the same time...he had agreed to help them. And he showed no signs of leaving for a while, and Naruto knew that if he didn't, then neither of them could afford to argue. Naruto had too many enemies, and it could very well end up being the three of them against any forces Orochimaru and Konoha sent after them, not to mention the woman who they had fought for the girl. Letting the group fall apart over secrets would be...bad.

Deciding to be cautious, he asked, "What do you know about them?"

Takeshi shrugged, the movement almost invisible in the dim light of the corridor. "Not much, really. Only that there's lots of people who want them, like the guys back in that town, and that woman who attacked us, and the advi-"

He broke off abruptly, and shook his head. "And I know that the girl you decided to bring with us is one of them, and I know that you are too. And that probably that...dog-thing has something to do with it. But I don't know anything more than that...Apart from the fact that the people after jinchuuriki aren't interested in asking nicely for them."

Naruto could easily believe that. The fact of the matter was, jinchuuriki never really had a choice. The bijuu were sealed into helpless infants who couldn't say no, their powers came from creatures that weren't on their side and would rip free of them given a moment's chance, and they were shunned by those who created them in the first place.

Hence why Naruto refused to be a traditional jinchuuriki. He would be damned if he sacrificed himself for any more ungrateful bastards. In fact, it was a fond wish of his to see Konoha reduced to molten slag, preferably by a bijuu of some kind - it would be nice for them to fully appreciate just what he had been holding back for no thanks before they died.

But still...He examined the blue-head before speaking again. "...What do you know about the bijuu?"

Takeshi frowned in confusion. "Nothing. What are they?"

Naruto took in a deep breath. "They're...demons. Living forms of demonic chakra, with enough power to destroy a village. There are nine of them, from the Ichibi to...the Kyuubi."

Takeshi stiffened. "Kyuubi? Like...Sanbi?"

Naruto frowned. "I thought you didn't know about them?"

"I don't, the advisor-"

Takeshi stopped dead, the look on his face that of someone who knew they had just made a terrible mistake. Naruto might have been amused by it if he wasn't so curious about _what _Takeshi had been about to say. "What is it?"

Takeshi looked annoyed. "It's nothing-"

Naruto folded his arm, his posture mirroring Takeshi's. "Really? It didn't sound like 'nothing.'"

Something flickered across Takeshi's face. Resentment? Fear? Naruto couldn't tell. Instead he just waited, sure that eventually the older boy would crack. Hopefully it would be soon - he didn't like staying still in this place with chakra-cloaked walls and lengthening shadows-

A chill suddenly ran down Naruto's spine as the chakra on the walls flared a bright green, before darkening to a rich red. As the jinchuuriki watched in disbelief, the chakra seemed to solidify, turning into something that resembled nothing less than a wall of living flesh, which rippled and thickened before his eyes.

Takeshi glanced down, and let out a startled yelp. "The floor!"

Naruto didn't need to look down to confirm what the other boy had said - he could feel his boots sinking into the floor as it transformed into the same fleshy substance as the walls, sucking hungrily at his feet. It was then that once again, his gift for coming up with plans on the fly proved itself.

"RUN!"

Takeshi didn't need telling twice as the two of them bolted down the corridor. A deep groan echoed through the air, though Naruto couldn't see any indication of where it was coming from.

_"DEVOUR!"_

As they ran, Naruto twisted to look at Takeshi. "Will you tell me if we get out of this?"

Takeshi yelped slightly as the floor began shake under their feet, but nodded. "Fine! But you finish telling me what you were saying!"

Naruto nodded sharply. "Deal!"

Suddenly, the fleshy substance beneath their feet lunged upwards. Yanking his glove off his wrist, Naruto jumped into the air, before sticking his bare hand into the pouch at his hip. The mouth on his palm began chewing frantically on the clay inside, and as he came down, he let the minuscule amount of clay he had 'eaten' drop onto the thickest part of the floor.

With a muffled boom, the flesh was blown apart, revealing a bare, if somewhat sticky floor. The force of the explosion blew the jinchuuriki onto his back, but he wasn't being eaten, and that was the main thing.

Takeshi wasn't so lucky. His body, softened by months in a cell, was slower than Naruto's, and he hadn't been able to clear the flesh in time before it lunged for his legs. Within seconds, it had completely engulfed his body. Naruto sent threads towards it, trying to slice through the jelly-like mass, but it was far tougher than it looked - and to Naruto's horror, the mass began sinking into the ground, pulling him with it.

Snatching back his arm, Naruto broke off the threads, and began rolling some clay between his hands, hoping that he would be able to blow apart the stuff without harming Takeshi. But the flesh was too quick, and within seconds, the blob that had been Takeshi disappeared into the floor.

Naruto didn't know if the boy was dead, but that substance didn't look like it had air-holes in it - and seeing that it looked awfully like the wall of a giant intestine, the possibility that Takeshi was being digested was quite high.

...As was the possibility that Naruto himself was going to be eaten.

He needed to get out of there - fast.

* * *

Kushina was, by nature, not a tactical person. She said what she thought, she preferred to come up with plans on the fly rather than sitting down and plotting a strategy out, and she was absolutely hopeless at shogi. But even so, she did have at least a basic grasp on common sense...which was why she was absolutely astonished by the stupidity of Utakata's sensei.

"He did _what?_"

The jinchuuriki of the Rokubi tightened his grip on the metal tube which he apparently used as a weapon, and Kushina noted absently that it looked quite well-cared for - clearly it was a favourite for him to use. However, the rest of her attention was caught up by what the now missing-nin had said.

"He tried to extract my bijuu." Utakata's tone was flat, emotionless, but in his amber eyes she could see the bewildered anger of a child, one who had just had the world snatched out from under their feet and couldn't understand why.

Well, neither could Kushina. The extraction of a bijuu was something that every village with regular jinchuuriki practised, but it was not to be taken lightly. The jinchuuriki had to be subdued, a method to pull the bijuu out without damaging the area - even the slightest miscalculation could cause an earthquake or a similar disaster - and a container strong enough to safely contain the bijuu until it could be transferred into another baby. So great was the margin for error that it was normally only performed on jinchuuriki either too old to be a good weapon for their village, or one that had proved too dangerous to live.

Kushina had never thought to investigate further (because people would be yanking the Kyuubi out of Naruto over her dismembered body, and that was the end of the matter) but she knew that it wasn't typical of villages to just extract a bijuu for no reason. And Utakata didn't fit any 'extraction-worthy' criteria. He was young, strong, talented, and had been as loyal as a shunned jinchuuriki could be to Kiri.

So why had his master, one of the few people in his life who had shown any care for Utakata as a person rather than a weapon, tried to rip the Rokubi out of him?

Kushina didn't know, and it was clear that Utakata didn't either. However, what she did know was that he was in grave danger. The Rokubi was too great a resource to allow to wander around freely. Kirigakure would be coming after him, either to kill him or to drag him back to extract his bijuu for a more 'suitable' host.

Utakata knew that too. She could see it in the quiet desperation in his eyes. But she doubted that he would just give up - the ninja of Kirigakure were too stubborn to just roll over and die, and besides, Utakata wasn't loyal enough to Kirigakure to let them just rip out his bijuu for the sake of the village.

She was glad about that. People who scorned their saviours didn't deserve to be saved in the first place - and a village like Kiri certainly didn't need another weapon of mass destruction.

But there remained the question of what to do with Utakata. Leave him? Quite possibly one of the worst ideas ever thought up - teenage missing-nins were bad enough, but teenage missing-nins with enough power to level entire villages on their own?

Those were not the sort of people who should be left wandering around on their own while being regularly put in stressful situations, such as their home village trying to drag them back for certain death.

Not only that, but Utakata was only a couple of years older than Naruto would be now. Still just a child, no matter what crap was spewed about 'shinobi being adults from the moment they take up their hia-ates.' Being a powerful ninja didn't mean that you could manage on your own - and Kami knew, Kushina could do with some help on that front.

And so, she decided to extend him an offer he hopefully would not refuse - because if he didn't want come with her, Kushina was not going to force him. She had no right to, and besides, she wasn't sure exactly how powerful he was - or if how willing he was to use his bijuu in stressful situations. Kushina had no desire to see how the Rokubi compared to the Kyuubi in power. Instead, she would extend the offer, using all the grace, charm and subtlety that she as a proud member of the Uzumaki clan possessed.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Utakata stared at her, his eyes almost comically widened. "What?"

Kushina gestured at the hunter-nin's corpse. "Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful that you killed him before he could attack" - even if Utakata apparently hadn't realized that the hunter-nin was attacking her and had merely finished him off before he could go after Utakata himself - "and I am certainly not keen to run into anyone from Kiri for a while. But they're not just going to give up on either of us...so we might as well face them together rather than on our own."

Utakata looked wary. "Why would Kiri go after you?"

Kushina scowled. "Because I've got some information they want, and I'm certainly not going to give it up to them. And...my son is in the same situation as yours, so to speak."

Utakata stared at her. "What?"

Kushina nodded. "To cut an incredibly long story short, he vanished shortly after I was captured, and no one knows where he is. I don't, however, think that he's in Kiri - so I intend to look for him while staying far away from it."

Utakata looked at her for a moment. Then he put down his weapon, letting it fall on the bed he was sitting on. "I won't be your tool." Despite his flat tone, it was more of a question than a statement.

Kushina shook her head hurriedly. "No! We'll be more like...partners, I suppose. And hopefully, not alone."

"What do you mean?"

"There's someone I need to visit first," Kushina said evasively. _'You owe me, En no Gyoja...and you damn well better square your debt, because I need all the help I can get if I want to get Naruto back safely.'_

* * *

Shion peered through the doorway, twisting a lock of her long blonde hair nervously around her finger. "Kaa-san?"

Miroku turned around, looking tired and strained. She had exchanged her normally elaborate robes for far simpler garb, and her hair had been untidily pinned back. Never the less, she still managed to look like a regal priestess, and it was that that gave Shion the courage to ask what she had been worried about for days.

"Kaa-san...Is it true that...that a demon has raised an army against us?"

Miroku stiffened, her eyes wide. "How did you-"

"Taruho-san told me...He didn't realize that I didn't know, Kaa-san."

Miroku sighed, passing a hand over her face. "I see. I suppose that it was futile keeping it from you, but I hoped to spare you from my own worries..."

"Worries?" Shion stared at her mother, her eyes pleading for some form of reassurance. "But...Kaa-san...the demon can be defeated, can't it? We can stop it?"

For a moment, Miroku seemed to hesitate. Then she smiled. "Of course we can, Shion. I'm just...concerned about the damage we'll sustain before we do. But you needn't fear. I do have a way to stop him...now you'd better return to your prayers."

Not quite mollified, but sensing that her mother wanted to be alone, Shion nodded, and left after a quick hug. Miroku watched her go, a tear glinting in the corner of her eye. _'The demon must be stopped, Shion...I just pray that you can forgive me for this.'_

* * *

Being a child-puppet had inconvenienced Sayuri greatly. She was unable to grow any bigger - a constant source of annoyance, as she was already small for her age and had been rather looking forward to a growth spurt - had a permanently stunted chakra network, was unable to eat or drink anything - in fact, for that matter, she had a greatly diminished sense of taste, so eating wouldn't be that enjoyable anyway - and on top of that, she was slower than she had been due to her heavier body.

But being a puppet wasn't all bad. After all, she got immortality out of it (although, Sayuri didn't really think of it like that, as most children assume they're going to live forever anyway, and if Orochimaru ever succeeded in his plans, she'd rather not hang around in a world eternally ruled by him) as well as a great poker face (due to the changes made to her facial muscles, Sayuri's face only became expressive if she deliberately chose it to, otherwise assuming a creepily blank look). In fact, there were two factors in it that were greatly aiding Sayuri at the moment: 1) small chakra reserves were harder to detect, and 2) her body was far hardier than one of flesh and bone - and she was beginning to think that that was a very good thing in this place, which was just as creepy as Oto, though half as likely to get her sliced up gruesomely.

Cautiously, the girl poked her head around a corner. Beyond her was an opulent bedroom, with a huge four-poster bed and a decorated mirror propped against the fancy wallpaper. They had found no sign of life in there, but both girls agreed that there was something odd about it, and they were carefully trying to find out what, without disturbing whatever was so odd about it in the first place.

Sayuri was taking the lead in this case - not only did she know what 'nii-san and Takeshi' looked like, but her eyesight was a lot better at spotting things in the shadows, and she also far better at creeping around than Kiyoshi was.

Well, that wasn't surprising. Though Kiyoshi didn't know it, in Oto, the ability to be quiet, to sneak around and remain unnoticed had been highly valued. Jutsu-wise, Naruto and Sayuri might be behind those in ninja academies, but they had had first-class stealth training - when you being noticed meant that you had to participate in a gruesome experiment, you tended to learn to become stealthy very quickly or die.

For Kiyoshi, the whole experience was not something she particularly liked. Waking up in a strange place that she didn't recognize after a highly stressful incident was bad enough, but having to stumble around in the dark with someone she didn't know when there was that horrible coppery smell in the air was helping to shape the day (not that it wasn't in the mould already) into Worst Day Ever.

Sayuri wasn't really that much help either. Granted, Kiyoshi's experience with younger children was rather lacking, but she didn't think that Sayuri was a normal child at all. When Kiyoshi had been six, her version of stealth had been crawling under a bed during hide-and-seek. Sayuri, on the other hand, was carefully examining her surroundings, acting as a ninja should, before leading the older girl into a room she had deemed safe. It was an odd juxtaposition - a little girl with childish mannerisms and a ninja who seem to know what she was doing.

Kiyoshi didn't like it at all. She found it difficult enough to read normal people, never mind strange little girls who cheerfully tugged her around as if she weighed nothing at all and seemed to know more about being ninja than she did.

The albino shivered as they peered inside another room, this time some sort of weapons room. There were heavy swords and battle-axes hung up on the walls, a mirror on the wall, presumably to practice moves in front of, a training-dummy standing in the middle of the room. However, the room seemed to be more for show than anything else - the dummy had nothing to indicate that it had ever been touched, and the axes and swords looked razor-sharp and too shiny to have ever been taken into battle.

Eerily shiny, in fact...

Sayuri walked straight over to the training dummy, looking at it critically. "It's only straw," she concluded after a few moments, looking oddly satisfied by this.

Kiyoshi looked at her warily. "Is that good?"

Sayuri nodded happily. "Straw dolls aren't very good. It's the wooden ones that are dangerous."

Getting the uncomfortable feeling that, once again, she was in way over her head, Kiyoshi nodded quickly, before looking around. There was nothing else in the room, not even a spider. "I guess we should get moving again..."

Sayuri nodded, looking serious. "I don't know where nii-san's gone. He promised he'd be back soon, and he never breaks his promises!"

"Really?" Kiyoshi said sceptically. Sayuri nodded, turning around. "He always does what he says he will...even if things start going wrong, and-LOOK OUT!"

Kiyoshi spun around, her eyes frantically darting about for the enemy. When she looked at the mirror, she saw him.

It was the man from the picture in the dining-room, complete with the armour and sword, although his eyes, which had seemed frighteningly life-like in the picture, were now blank and unfocused. As Kiyoshi watched in horror, his arms plunged through the glass, followed by the rest of his body.

Frantically, Kiyoshi tried to channel chakra into dispelling what had to be a genjutsu despite the fact that she hadn't detected a hint of illusion...and unsurprisingly, got no result. For all intents and purposes, the armoured man was really - and coming for them.

As he straightened up, now completely free of the mirror, he turned towards the girls, who both took a step backwards.

The man raised his sword, a deep, raspy voice issuing from his mouth.

_"DEVOUR!"_

"RUN!"

Kiyoshi had never heeded a command so thoroughly in her life. She bolted for the door, hearing the louder footsteps of Sayuri clatter reassuringly after her - as well as the lighter, yet more threatening tread of the armoured man, who was a lot faster than he looked.

But before they could get out of the room, the door slammed shut, a heavy bolt that Kiyoshi hadn't noticed before sliding across it. The albino seized the door, trying to pry it open, but her weak physical strength was no match for the heavy wood and iron.

"Let me!"

Kiyoshi stepped to the side as Sayuri raced to the door, the eerie armoured figure still marching steadily towards them. Oddly enough, he made no move to quicken his pace, or indeed just lunge forward - instead, he seemed content to just slowly walk forward, as if he had nothing better to do then watch their fear as he came nearer and nearer.

Kiyoshi certainly was afraid. In fact, she was more than afraid. She felt as if she was teetering on the edge of an abyss, with nothing to hold on to to prevent her fall. The beginnings of a hysterical laugh began to bubble up in her throat as she remembered that, little more than twenty-four hours previously, she had been safe and secure in her home, with obaa-chan alive and happy, and now she was trapped in a castle with someone she didn't even know, about to be murdered by something that shouldn't exist, while Sayuri just slammed against the door like it would do anything-

The albino's frantic train of thought was abruptly cut off by the sound of the door crashing to the floor.

For a brief moment, all Kiyoshi could do was stare at the fallen door, then back at the tiny girl next to her. "Did you just...how the hell-"

Smiling sweetly, Sayuri grabbed the jinchuuriki's hand and began to run. After all, she was a companion of Uzumaki Naruto, and thus was used to using unnatural changes that she didn't really like much if it meant getting her way - in this case, her way of survival.

Despite her confusion, Kiyoshi was not really that keen to get bowled off her feet, and so forced herself to run, despite the fact that her body was really beginning to get tired from all this walking and running about. She really wasn't cut out for all this...there was a reason she had specialized in fuinjutsu and genjutsu after all.

Well. Apart from having a demon stuck in her that significantly boosted the latter abilities.

Thankfully, Sayuri finally skidded to a halt, turning her head to check behind them. Kiyoshi spun around too, her hands flying into a seal, ready to perform a genjutsu to either hide them or just delay their attacker-

But there was no attacker. The hallway was empty, and though Kiyoshi strained her ears, she couldn't hear so much as a clatter to betray that the man might be walking towards them.

Sighing in relief, she let her hands fall. "Well, we seemed to have lost him-"

And that, of course, was when the floor opened up beneath their feet, and Sayuri managed a loud shriek that was part terror, part exasperation as they dropped into the darkness below.

* * *

Sumaru hadn't realized that he had been knocked out until he woke up.

It was a slow, drifting awakening, not a simple 'sit up, open your eyes' at all. At first, all he could feel was the warm blackness, where nothing could get in or out. Despite a nagging voice at the back of his mind that told him the blackness was _wrong, _that he needed to get out of it, the Hoshigakure genin had never felt such peace since his parents had died.

Then, slowly, sensation began to return. It was not an instant rush; instead, he gradually became aware of the world around him - and the fact that he was not safe at all.

First was the smell. It was an odd scent, the sharp, pungent smell of anaesthetic mixed with something that Sumaru recognized from a lifetime of living near a deadly gorge - the stench of rotting meat.

Second was the feeling of cold steel beneath him, easily felt through the thin clothes he had donned for the hot summer. Instinctively, Sumaru curled into himself, trying to regain some warmth, which instantly flared the last, most vivid sensation of all-

_Pain._

Hot, strong agony was flaring in his chest, burning as if someone had pressed a white-hot brand into his flesh. Despite himself, Sumaru couldn't help but let out a cry of pain as he rolled off the surface he had been lying on, hitting the floor with a quiet thump.

Though this knocked the breath out of him, it also served to wake him up completely. Breathing shallowly, his arms pressed against his chest in a vain effort to hold back the pain, Sumaru slowly opened his eyes.

He was lying on a tiled floor, next to a tall metal gurney that he'd presumably just fallen off. There were long strips of white lights hanging above his head, and they illuminated the strange machines lining the walls, the glass and metal cabinets that appeared to be filled with surgical tools - and the strange lumpy shapes lying on the other tables.

Wincing, Sumaru pushed himself to his feet, gritting his teeth against the agony. He was a shinobi, he wouldn't cry, he wouldn't scream-

Then he saw what the lumpy shapes really were and promptly forgot about that.

All around the room, his friends were sprawled across the tables, their limbs cold and stiff, their chests unmoving. But the bodies were more than that - they were twisted, they were cut open, they were _burned, _the skin blackened and cracked, and Sumaru staggered back, retching at the sight.

_'Hokuto...Mizura...Aoi...Yumi...Haruo...Rin...Taiga...'_

He tried desperately to think through his nausea and horror, to remember how they had got here, how they had all ended up in this laboratory, how he had a gut-wrenching pain while his friends were dead. They had been gathered in front of the Hoshikage...He had said that they were going under a procedure that would help Hoshigakure...He had introduced him to that silver-haired man, to whom Sumaru had taken an immediate dislike though he couldn't explain why...

Sumaru's breath hissed out between his teeth as he steadied himself on a table for support. Had the Hoshikage, a man that he had looked upon as a surrogate grandfather when his parents died defending the star...actually sanctioned this? The death of his friends?

He didn't want to believe it. The Hoshikage was the protector of the village, their wise leader, the person they all looked up to. He couldn't have allowed that man to kill all the genin...could he?

It didn't matter. Even through the pain, the urge to get out, to flee from this place was overwhelming. If Sumaru had thought about it logically, he would have seen why - apart from the fact that being in a laboratory filled with corpses was disturbing to say in the least, the people who had done this could come back at any time and find him there - but as it was, there was only the urge to get away from this place as fast as he could.

And so the boy began staggering towards the door, grimly determined to get out, by any means necessary. He didn't know what would happen when he got outside, but he knew one thing for sure - it couldn't be worse than what he was leaving.

* * *

Naruto swore under his breath as he found yet another dead end, with a supposedly empty suit of armour at the end. Backing away slowly from it, he then turned around and broke into a run, not slowly down until he was sure that it wasn't following him. He had been walking around for what felt like hours, trying to either find Sayuri or at least a way out of the castle. But there was nothing...except , of course several animated pieces of furniture trying to 'devour him.'

Never before had Naruto been happier to have explosive clay at his disposal. He might have felt a bit guiltier about the damage it was causing if the furniture hadn't tried to actually _eat _him, and if the damn things didn't seem to mend themselves every time he turned his back on the pieces. Naruto didn't know what this place was - a jutsu, an ordinary castle inscribed with seals and protected by other traps, or a place genuinely inhabited by supernatural creatures...but either way, it was annoying, angering and confusing the hell out of him, and as soon as he found Sayuri, they were getting out of here.

Suddenly, he noticed another door ahead of him, with a rather plush carpet running under the small line between it and the floor. Curious over what would warrant such a décor, he pushed it open.

It was a library, one that was equal to, if not greater than Orochimaru's in size. There were no lights on at all, yet, as with the rest of the castle, the walls were bright with chakra, casting an eerie illumination over the high shelves. Slowly, Naruto walked into the room, one hand on the handle of his weapon as he looked around.

However, apart from a small desk in the corner, there seemed to be nothing in the room but the shelves - and as crushing him apparently did not kill him, Naruto had little fear of them toppling on him. Besides, there could be some information in here about what was going on in this castle and, more importantly, how to stop it.

The jinchuuriki made his way over to the desk, which had a few scrolls lying haphazardly on top of it, as if they had been just tossed there and forgotten. Naruto carefully picked up the first one, scanning through it.

_This cannot be called anything other than our darkest hour. It has been confirmed by our spies that the enemy has crossed the borders of our lands and are even now marching towards my castle and our city. All those who are unfortunate to cross their path are slaughtered, and our farmers must either abandon their lands in the slim hope of reaching the castle in time, or stay and face certain death. At this rate, we will surely perish, either when the enemy attacks, or when winter arrives and we have nothing to eat._

Hmm. This appeared to be a sort of log by the lord of the castle, which, according to the date, was written about fifty years ago...and yet, was just lying on the desk as if someone had been writing in it but hurriedly abandoned it. Curious, Naruto read on.

_Today, I gathered my strength and summoned the most trusted of my friends, Zuruimaru. Though, as always, the effort drained me deeply, and I truthfully should have been consulting Rei about the state of our supplies, I found myself in great need of his companionship and guidance, now that it grows more likely with every step the enemy takes that our defeat is inevitable. _

_Truthfully, I know that most of those under my command think little of my summons, and view them as scarcely more than exotic war hounds. Yet while it is true that they are fearsome in battle, I believe that their greatest assets lie in their brilliant cunning, which matches the most learned of my advisers, and is tempered by a knowledge that comes from hundreds of years of battles, along with their loyalty, which they have proven on countless occasions._

_Though he was quite pleased to be summoned, my old friend turned grave upon hearing the news of the enemy. He suggested that he transform, a skill that has served us well many times during battle, into a replica of the castle, and use that to fool them into attacking that, and leaving the castle alone. However, such a feat would require me to meld my chakra with his...and such a large-scale transformation, as well as Zuruimaru having enough strength to battle the enemy as well as confusing them would certainly cause my death._

_With that option useless, we did our best to work through other strategies, but even with the help of the summons, it became painfully clear that annihilation seems inevitable._

_But we will continue to fight. What else can we do?_

Naruto stared down at the scroll, shocked. The man had actually had a summon, something that many ninja coveted, while from the looks of things, he was only a daimyo, without proper ninja training. And he actually seemed to treat his summons with respect, unlike Orochimaru, who tossed their lives away casually, and spoke with wary condescension to the more powerful summons in his contract (although, from what Naruto had seen of Manda, the snake's massive ego and cruelty deserved nothing less).

Quickly, he began reading again. Most of the entries were short and focused on the strategies they had used on the enemy, and his growing despair when they did little if anything to stop them. Finally, Naruto came to the second to last entry, which was written in far shakier handwriting than the others.

_It is over._

_The city has fallen, and our people are completely overwhelmed. Even now, the enemy is looting and pillaging the city, and we are certainly next. _

_However, there is a way for me to gain triumph over them in death. For Zuruimaru's offer of replication still stands; even if the enemy now know the exact location of the castle, he can merely replace the original and wait for them to arrive. Zuruimaru assures me that he can hold the transformation for as long as he has to, by drawing in anyone who comes into the castle and consuming their chakra. I cannot deny that I am not afraid...but I will not face defeat._

Naruto felt his blood run cold. A summon. A summon had been masquerading as a castle, and they had walked right inside it. A quick look at the last entry, which was written in completely different handwriting confirmed his fears.

_My thirst for vengeance lives on in every stone of this castle. I promise to devour any man who dares set foot inside. _

Naruto dropped the scroll back onto the desk, his mind working furiously. So, he and the others had walked into a living trap, which had apparently been set up by someone over fifty years ago, who apparently hadn't included the 'and dispel once you've got rid of the enemy' in his order. Well that was just great.

However...he thought back over the words. Apparently the summon was still active by sucking the chakra out of its opponents - but neither he or Takeshi had felt anything while walking around. So, presumably, it had to take them somewhere to start the process - which was what had probably happened when Takeshi was 'devoured.'

And if that was the case...Naruto still might have enough time left to save him-

Suddenly, a cry cut through the air, and Naruto's head jerked up. He recognized that yell...

"Sayuri? _Sayuri_?"

There was no answer.

Suddenly, a wave of cold fury swept through Naruto, and he drew his weapon, glaring at the walls. Eating Takeshi was one thing. Trying to devour him was another. But Sayuri?

Fifty years before, an enemy had attacked this castle with the intention to raze it to the ground.

Now Uzumaki Naruto would finish the job.

**I'm not really fond of this chapter...but, ah well. By the way, as a question...would people prefer me to focus more on Naruto and less on Kushina? Though they will, eventually meet, both groups have different paths to take...so I suppose I could just stick with the main one, or alternatively keep a relatively equal focus on both. **

**Notes on manga: Dammit...I was really rooting for Konan (and what's really annoying was that it would have worked if Madara didn't have Izanagi). And now apparently her sacrifice was for nothing, because Madara has still got the Rinnegan...and now has an even creepier mask. **

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Perfection**

**I don't own Naruto.**

This was, Takeshi decided glumly as he rubbed his head, a lump already forming there from where his head had hit the stone floor, the final proof he needed to assure himself that the universe hated him.

It wasn't as if he was particularly keen to think of some cosmic entity having it in for him, but really, when you lose all your family, you spend months locked up in a cell, you escape only to run into two rather unsettling kids who apparently had the power to blow up a whole town, end up fighting an opponent who obviously outclasses you but ends up suddenly withdrawing for an unknown reason, you stumble into a spooky castle, get _swallowed _by said spooky castle and end up in a long, dark tunnel that also happened to be utterly freezing - well, that just smacked of someone important out there not liking you, didn't it?

True, there were people out there who had worse lives, but at the moment, Takeshi wasn't feeling charitable enough to concede it.

Kiyoshi and Sayuri seemed to agree, if their expressions were anything to go buy - Kiyoshi appeared to be doing an odd, defensive crouch on the floor, glaring up at the ceiling, while Sayuri had placed a small hand on the slimy stone walls, a frown on her face. Part of Takeshi had been glad to see them, both because of the company - though they didn't really make good conversationalists, being more preoccupied with trying to figure out what the hell was going on - and the satisfaction that, at least he wasn't the only fly to have been caught by this rather freaky web.

However, both those reasons were overshadowed by the fact that, three out of four had been captured, which left only Naruto to defeat this thing and rescue them. And while the younger boy might be able to battle...whatever the hell this thing was, there was no guarantee that he could, or would rescue them. Perhaps he would come for Sayuri if he did managed to get the better of this thing, but that was reliant on whether he could actually win, and even then, he had no real reason to help Takeshi.

At that thought, the Chiseigyoki scowled. He was the last of a proud clan, he was practically a ninja already, and to top that, he was older than Naruto. He didn't _need _rescuing!

The thought bolstering him, he turned to the girls. "Do either of you two know how we ended up here?"

Kiyoshi, still crouching on the floor, didn't reply, but Sayuri turned away from the wall, leaving behind a faint outline of where her hand had rested on it. She shrugged. "Me and Kiyoshi-chan got chased by this weird guy, but we got away, and then the floor opened...and then we landed here."

Takeshi blinked. "Um...okay."

Well, there went his hopes that the girls had been pulled down an exit that was easily accessible and led right out of the castle. However, not one to give up at the first obstacle, Takeshi nodded at the long passage in front of them. "I guess we'll just have to go that way, then."

Kiyoshi and Sayuri looked at it dubiously. Staying true to every horror cliché there was, it was dark and gloomy, complete with water dripping down from the rocky ceiling to form a shallow puddle on the floor. They might as well have stuck a large sign on it saying **Evil Be Here, Enter at Risk of Being Devoured Again.**

However, it also appeared to be the only way out, and thus, as countless heroes and heroines with more glory than sense had done before them, they were going to follow it.

* * *

Naruto surveyed the area around him, a frown tugging at his lips. Now then...what did he remember about summons?

1. They were part of 'contracts', signed between the summoner and the animal being summoned, which allowed the summoner to call on the services of the summons in exchange for a small blood sacrifice (and in the case of Manda, about a hundred human lives, more if he was feeling hungry).

2. Getting hold of a contract was a rare and difficult feat, and the art of creating them was practically lost, so they were mostly passed down through the generations or won in combat.

3. The contract manifested itself into a physical form, normally a scroll or a tattoo, like the one Orochimaru had on his arm (He had been once offered the chance to sign it, but Naruto wasn't sure if Orochimaru was joking or not. Either way, he didn't trust snakes remotely, and had refused it, much to the Sannin's amusement).

4. There were thousands of different animal species, and thus thousands of different possibilities for just what type of creature he was facing. Apart from saying that they were strong, brave and cunning, the scrolls hadn't really specified what the lord of the castle had summoned, and thus Naruto hadn't got a clue about his opponent's weaknesses at all.

However, he did know that summons were bound to their contract, and to have remained here for so long, the creature had to have the contract_somewhere. _And, theoretically, if he could only find the thing and destroy it...well, that should get rid of the summon, and let them out of the trap they had unwittingly blundered into.

But this was easier said than done - he didn't know where to even begin looking for the contract, or how much time Sayuri and the others had left. He was working under the assumption that the creature would have to devour their chakra before it could kill them as a way to sustain itself, and Sayuri did not have a lot of chakra. Thus, he needed to either find the contract before her time ran out, find Sayuri herself in whatever place the castle had stored her...or create a distraction to draw the castle's attention towards him instead.

Lifting his sword, Naruto turned to face the wall. It was panelled in dark red wood that looked quite expensive, and probably had done very little to stop the enemies of the castle when they attacked. Except that this wasn't real wood, just a summon imitating it (and just how it was imitating it was something Naruto would dearly like to know, as the castle and its objects were all solid objects, and thus was clearly not a henge, though he wasn't ruling out an incredibly realistic genjutsu), which meant that it should hopefully be more vulnerable to his attack.

Quickly, without letting himself think too much about it (because, really, he was attacking a large, powerful summon without much more of a plan than 'Distract it before it can eat everyone else', which would be bordering on suicidal were it not for his immortality) Naruto swung the sword, smashing it into the delicate wood.

For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the weapon gouging deep into the wall, with an ugly noise that set Naruto's teeth on edge. Then-

A loud roar sounded, which was nothing like the raspy voice that had spoken before - this was far more like an animal in pain - and the wall struck back.

* * *

Takeshi pulled a disgusted face as he inhaled, the rancid air making him want to gag. He didn't know what was exactly wrong with this place, but the smell - that of rotting meat - gave him a pretty good idea. It reminded him of being back in that cell, or worse, back under that cellar where he had hidden with the remaining members of his clan while they tried to wait out the massacre. The cellar had been cold, damp and it also happened to be under a butcher's shop, and a suspiciously red liquid occasionally dripped through the cracks in the ceiling to pool around their feet on the floor. When they had been discovered, it was almost - _almost _- a relief.

Next to him, Kiyoshi shivered, her pale eyes darting about nervously. She hadn't spoken since they had entered this weird tunnel, but from the look of disgust on her face, she smelt it as well, and obviously didn't like it. Takeshi wondered if she was actually a shinobi or not. She was small, not much bigger than Sayuri, and quite skinny too, not the normal build for a kunoichi. And yet, she was the only survivor in a village-sized hole, and was apparently linked to the creature that did it. Takeshi glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He'd heard that big surprises could come in small packages, but _really. _He could probably bring her down with a single punch - hell, from the way he'd seen Sayuri move, she probably could as well.

Up ahead of them, Sayuri was cautiously moving through the darkness, her eyes darting about as she searched for any sign of another attack. But so far, there had been nothing - just a seemingly endlessly long tunnel, with no corners or windows that they could use to help judge how far they had walked yet.

In a bid to distract himself from that, he cleared his throat, making Kiyoshi jump slightly. "So...do either of you have any idea of what this place is? It's obviously not an ordinary castle..."

Sayuri twisted around, and Takeshi tried to ignore the fact that she really shouldn't be able to rotate her torso as far as that. "Maybe it's haunted?"

Takeshi scoffed. "Don't be stupid. There's no such things as ghosts!"

_There are such things as demons, though_, an ominous voice in his head whispered. Takeshi told the voice to shut up and stop trying to spook him. He then realized that he was talking to himself, and thus taking another small step towards insanity, and promptly stopped.

"Maybe it's a seal," a raspy voice murmured, and Takeshi was surprised to see that Kiyoshi had finally opened her mouth. The albino was staring at the floor, and Takeshi had to strain to hear her. "It could have been set to activate whenever someone comes inside the castle...and set off a load of traps."

"Seals can do that?" Takeshi asked, feeling rather baffled by the thought. He knew next to nothing about fuinjutsu apart from the fact that seals could be used to store and transport objects, which made it easier to take things on long missions, and he knew that his father's sword had had some seals carved into the blade, but he had never really thought about why. The idea of a few squiggles being able to animate a huge castle like this into a powerful trap made him feel confused - and annoyed. He preferred being able to attack his enemies head on with jutsus and, in the days when he had one, a sword - but how could you attack a seal?

Kiyoshi nodded once, her long white hair covering her face. "But only really good fuinjutsu-masters can do something like that. I...I don't know how to do something like that or how reverse it."

"Well, that's just _great."_

Kiyoshi stiffened at his sarcastic tone, and belatedly, Takeshi realized that perhaps it wasn't the best way to handle the girl, considering that she seemed to be a mite unstable. But sensitivity and subtlety were not traits that the Chiseigyoki clan was famous for, and he really did have worse things to worry about, like being eaten again, and what the hell this thing was, and where Naruto had swooped off to, and wondering why Sayuri seemed to crouching over something-

He stopped dead, staring in disgust. "What the hell is that thing?"

Reaching forward, Sayuri poked the helmet of the figure lying on the floor, looking ready to jump back if it started moving like the suits of armour. Thankfully, it stayed motionless, and she straightened up. "I think it's dead!"

"Yes, but what _happened _to it?"

The body was that of a man dressed in full armour, though in a different style than the man they had seen in the painting, who was lying on the floor, his arms stretched out as if he died trying to crawl away from something. But that was nothing - what Takeshi was disturbed by was the man's face. It seemed to have almost mummified, the dessicated lips drawn back over brown teeth in a horrible grimace, the eyelids collapsed into the empty sockets, the skin dry and withered. It was like the shrivelled insect bodies that people found in spider webs. Takeshi had seen bodies that were well into the rotting stage, seen bodies with their guts spilling out, seen bodies half-eaten even, but he'd never seen corpses like this one, and it was almost scarier than all the others he had seen because of that.

"There's more of them over there!"

As Takeshi looked in the direction Sayuri was pointing, he realized that she was right. There were about ten dead soldiers scattered around the tunnel, some wearing the same armour as the first soldier, others dressed in the armour that they had seen around the castle. All were lying on the ground, some curled up, some merely slumped against the wall, and all in the same condition as the first corpse. Whatever had happened to them, it had happened a long time ago.

But what? That there were two different kinds of armour being worn indicated two different sides - but no weapons had been drawn, and though the state of the flesh made it hard to tell, he couldn't make out any signs of wounds on the bodies. In fact, they all seemed to have just collapsed on the floor, without any sort of injury to warrant it, nor any damage in the area from jutsus being tossed about until they collapsed from chakra exhaustion. Clearly, the castle had had something to do with it, unless all these men had simultaneously decided to drop dead - and if it could kill all these fully-grown, armed men and leave only withered husks behind...

Takeshi took a deep breath. Now was not the time to start sinking into a 'woe is me' rant, though part of him desperately wanted to. Instead, he turned to the girls with a questioning look. "I've never seen anything like this before. Have-"

"No."

Though disappointed, Takeshi was far from deterred. He didn't know how powerful these guys had been (samurai tended to focus primarily on kenjutsu, but their skill-levels ranged from 'barely beyond civilians' to above jounin-level) but he figured that whatever was strong enough to take them down would either have to be fast enough to kill them all in a short enough period of time that they'd had no time to run away, or would have had to have to knocked them out and dumped them in this place where they'd apparently stayed until they'd died. Well, obviously the latter had happened to their group - but unlike the soldiers, they were still moving around, still awake enough to plan - and hopefully, that would be enough to get them out of here.

Stepping gingerly over the corpses, he began to tick everything they knew about the castle off his fingers. "So, we've got a load of dead guys, a creepy voice that keeps talking about devouring people, floors that open up underneath you, walls that turn into flesh, a really bad smell-"

"And a scary guy that comes out of a mirror!"

Takeshi nodded at Sayuri's exuberant shout as the group walked down the corridor, the air seeming to grow chillier the further they ventured. "Yeah...So, I haven't seen anyone about causing all that stuff, so either this guy's invisible, or-"

"It's the castle itself," Kiyoshi muttered, her eyes flickering over the dark stones of the wall, as if she was afraid of them tearing themselves loose and throwing themselves at her.

Takeshi nodded, feeling both pleased that his theory was being accepted and unsettled at the very thought of it. He had been the son of one of the famed Seven Swordsmen, he had been part of a respected clan, he had been near the top of his class back in Kiri, and he had thought himself to be quite knowledgeable about the life of a ninja. And yet, the stuff he had started encountering ever since he had met Naruto were leaving him feeling well over his head. Demons, people made of paper, and now castles that ate people and had mummified soldiers in the basement - his life was getting weirder by the minute, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't stop even if he did get out of this.

"Well...if it is the castle, then it's gotta have a weakness, right? I mean, you said it might be a seal. What can you do against them?"

Kiyoshi twisted a corner of her shirt in her hands, looking as if she would rather be anywhere but the castle at that moment (for that matter, so did Takeshi). "If...if it is a seal, then it might have a source of chakra to keep itself running if there's no one around to maintain it. So...if you find the source and destroy it-"

"Then the castle can't work any more?" Sayuri asked. Kiyoshi nodded, now looking more confident. "Or, if we can find the place the seal was inscribed - it might be on a wall, or some furniture, or just a small bit of paper - and destroy that, then all this stuff should stop attacking - or the castle itself might fall to bits."

Takeshi gulped. The idea of this enormous place falling down on them was not a pleasant one at all - but then again, neither was the idea of being eaten or ending up like the dead soldiers. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it- _What the hell?"_

The body was sitting in an alcove, illuminated by an invisible light source. It was dressed in full armour, hands on its knees, and seemed to be leaning forward slightly, as if watching over the other corpses. Takeshi felt a chill run down his spine at the thought. Had whoever this guy was sat here, either ignoring or not realizing his own upcoming death, and watched as everyone else died on the floor in front of him? Surely not - he was dressed in the same armour as some of the other dead men, and he wouldn't have just sat back if his own side was dying, would he?

Sayuri tilted her head, examining the body. "It's the guy from upstairs," she pronounced authoritatively after a few moments. "The one in the painting."

"Are you sure?" Takeshi hadn't really looked at the picture, figuring that they had more important things to be worrying about, but Sayuri nodded resolutely. "He's got the same armour - and they've got the same moustache, look!"

Suddenly, as if it was too fragile to be even looked at, the body began to melt before their bewildered eyes, dusty smoke hissing out of the gaps in the man's armour as he dissolved into a boneless mess of skin and metal. Kiyoshi stumbled back, holding her nose as a foul smell filled the air. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Takeshi answered as a loud groan echoed, and they all drew close together, "but I don't think it's anything good-"

And then, with a hideous squelching noise, trails of what looked like living flesh grew over the stone walls, engulfing them in seconds. Takeshi swore, remembering how he had been sucked through the floor the last time it had happened. Sure enough, a thin layer of squelchy flesh began to spread over the floor as well, forcing the trio to back against the wall.

"We need to get out of here!"

Sayuri slammed her fist against the wall, but the blow seemed to have no impact at all. Takeshi followed her lead with a vicious kick, one that had always knocked down his cousins when he sparred with them, but did nothing against walls of flesh except cause him to lose his balance when the flesh bounced back into shape. He fell to the floor with an 'oomph!' and Sayuri shook her head. "We need something to cut through it!"

"Like what?" Takeshi hissed, scrambling back up as Sayuri took a step backwards, staring at the flesh with a measured look on her face. "We don't have any kunai, and even if we did, I doubt they'd be strong enough to cut through-"

Then Sayuri's arm split open.

Takeshi's words seemed to dry up in his throat; nausea and horror overtaking his voice as he stared at her, and the lightning was just bright enough for his eyes to see every detail, just enough for them to realize that they weren't being tricked, that he was seeing what he thought he was seeing - and it was horrific.

Sayuri's arm was segmented, separated at the wrist, the elbow, and probably the shoulder as well, though her jacket thankfully covered the rest of her body up. Her small hand was hanging limply, dangling from the hole that sat where her wrist should be, and as Takeshi watched, something slid out of the hole which glinted dully in the light as it unfolded. It was a long metal pole with a lump at the end, which unfolded out into a serrated disk. Sayuri twisted her arm, and the disk began to whirr, making a soft whining noise as it did so.

A buzz-saw.

"Sayuri." It was Kiyoshi speaking, and her voice was barely loud enough for Takeshi to hear her, so it didn't surprise him when Sayuri ignored her, and slammed the saw into the wall. Unlike their previous blows, this one actually managed to do something, scratching a shallow gouge into the rough stone. It wasn't much, but it was further than either of them had got, and Takeshi's instincts managed to overide his brain's protests once again. He grabbed Kiyoshi's arm, while nodding at Sayuri to continue. Not that she needed any encouragement - the little girl was quite happy to slash away at the castle that had trapped them and tried to eat them.

Kiyoshi tried to shake him off her arm, but Takeshi shook his head at her, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Don't say anything - we'll ask her when we get out, okay?"

Kiyoshi looked unsure, but then nodded once and yanked her arm out of his grip. Takeshi then turned back to Sayuri, and saw to his delight that she had already hacked out a good bit of the wall. "Come on, we're getting out of here-"

And that was when the castle decided that it had had enough, and the floor beneath their feet suddenly surged upwards, flinging the trio head-first through the ceiling.

* * *

Kabuto frowned as he looked around the silent laboratory, his glasses glinting as they caught the weak light provided by the lamps on the ceiling. He had to admit, he was disappointed. True, these sort of transplants were always risky, but it was rare to lose this many. He had hoped that at least one of them could have made it - even if they couldn't use the transplant itself, the data collected would have been invaluable for future work - but it seemed that this particular transplantation had extracted too high a price on their bodies.

He walked over to the nearest table, examining the dead girl lying on it without interest. Truly a shame - if this had worked, the experiment would have been a weapon to use against Oto and Akatsuki alike, if he ever decided to break with one of them, and, with a strict training regime, could even have been something to tackle the problem of Naruto. But it seemed that it would have to wait...

Suddenly, he caught sight of the table at the back of the room, and his eyes widened in shock. Quickly, he counted the corpses on the table, remembering the number of unconscious genin that had been placed there before the experiment began. Fifteen of them, all young and strong and healthy, and now all dead.

Except one. Because there were only fourteen corpses in the room.

Kabuto felt excitement flare through him, though he quickly tampered it down. This was no time for premature celebration - first, he had to find the missing child first, and for all he knew, someone had simply decided to move one of the bodies. But if the child had actually survived...

A whole new world of possibilities had just opened itself up.

* * *

"You have _got _to be kidding me."

Those might not have been very profound words to say when facing an ancient and powerful enemy, but it was all Naruto could think of as he saw the mass of tentacles that had burst through the large pair of doors in front of him. They were thick and slimy looking, and reminded him of Orochimaru's prehensile tongue - and that was certainly a memory he could do without. And they were fast too, lunging at him with lightning-quick speed.

Baring his teeth in a dark grin, Naruto sprang into action. He swung his sword, tearing through the tentacles that tried to attack his eyes, ducked under the ones that tried to strangle him, and used his threads to slice through those which managed to wrap around his arms and legs. The good news was that they were easy to damage, falling to the floor as quickly as they darted forward. The bad news was that there was a lot of them - and they weren't the only thing he had to worry about. The floor was shaking, as if something was trying to shove through it, and he really didn't want to see what new horrors this place could conjure up-

Only for the floor to suddenly burst open, raining wood splinters that seemed to be turning into scraps of flesh as they landed everywhere, along with three very surprised children, who flew through the air in what looked like a flailing bundle of limbs that Naruto had only a moment to stare at in bewilderment before it crashed into him, sending everyone sprawling in an awkward heap on the floor.

"NII-SAN!"

"..Sayuri-chan..." Naruto wheezed out, his heart leaping at the sight of her, despite the fact that his chest felt as though someone had taken a large sledgehammer to it. She looked a bit battered, and there were splinters tangled in her hair, but apart from that, she seemed perfectly fine, smiling as she hopped off Takeshi's groaning body. "I knew that you would come and get us, and Takeshi said you wouldn't, but I _knew_-"

"Hate to interrupt this reunion," muttered a shaky voice, and Naruto saw Takeshi push himself into a sitting position. "But we happen to be in the middle of a haunted castle-"

"It's a summon."

"It's a _what_?"

Naruto quickly filled them in on how he had stumbled into the library and discovered the scrolls detailing the last days of the castle's owner, and how he'd summoned a creature in a last, desperate attempt to destroy the enemy.

"-and from the looks of things, the thing he summoned never left, and it doesn't know or doesn't care that it's eating innocent people. It's been hiding as the castle for over fifty years, and it said in the scroll that it promises to devour all who enter-"

**_"Devour!"_**

Everyone froze as a growl echoed over their heads. **"_I am the last living servant of Kubisaki Kouza, and I will devour any who try to invade his castle!"_**

Takeshi swore under his breath, scrambling to his feet as he stared up at the ceiling. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"Give me a minute!" Naruto hissed, scanning the hall. The contract was the focus of the entire summon, and if they could just find where it was hidden-

There! A small clump of chakra above their heads, brighter and far more intense than the rest. Naruto had never seen a contract physically manifested as an object before, but he would bet his sword that it was sitting in a room above them, probably in the same place the lord of the castle had abandoned it.

"Let's go!"

Emboldened by the thought of finally being able to get out of the castle, they raced for the stairs at the end of the hallway, determined to reach the contract before the castle could stop them. The floor was beginning to shake under their feet, while out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could see the severed tentacles begin to regenerate. They needed to get to the scroll, and fast!

As they reached the final step, they saw a small room in front of them, with a large scroll sitting innocently on a low table in the centre. Even from where he was standing, Naruto could see that it was glowing brightly wit a rich green chakra. This was definitely the contract.

"Is that it?" Takeshi snapped, glancing over his shoulder at the stairs, which were rippling into a long sheet of flesh that resembled nothing more than a giant tongue. At Naruto's nod, he jerked his head impatiently at it. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's destroy it!"

"Wait!"

Naruto turned to see the white-haired jinchuuriki, who had a hand outstretched as if to grab the scroll away from him. She looked hesitant when he glared at her, but pressed on. "If...if that's a summoned scroll, when you destroy it, the creatures tied to it dispel!"

"So?"

"If it dispels with us inside it, it could take us with it. We'd never escape!"

Sayuri tugged on Naruto's arm. "Nii-san, the walls!"

Naruto glanced up to see the walls of the room slowly turning back in flesh, which was steadily closing in on them. He let the contract fall open, revealing a long line of bloody hand prints, followed by the names of the previous summoners, all now long since dead. It didn't look very strong - he could probably rip it apart with his bare hands - but if the creature managed to drag them along with him when it went...

"Naruto," Takeshi murmured, edging away from the rapidly spreading flesh, "if you could hurry up-"

Naruto's mind raced. There had to be another way-

There was, he suddenly realized. It was risky, and he didn't even know if it would work...but if it was a choice between either being eaten or potentially being dragged along to wherever summons returned to, unable to get back...

"NARUTO!"

Quickly, Naruto cut his hand on the blade of his sword, and slammed his palm down on the space next to the last name on the parchment, which was none other than Kubisaki Kouza's . Ignoring Takeshi's yelling about what the hell was he doing, Naruto quickly wrote his name down underneath it, the cut on his hand healing already. Within a few seconds, it was done, and he straightened up, praying that this was going to work.

"Naruto," Takeshi said through gritted teeth. "What did you-"

But before he could finish his sentence, another voice spoke - the deep rumble of the castle (well, summon).

**_"Who dares sign my contract without permission?"_**

Naruto took a deep breath, trying not to envision himself trapped for eternity in the guts of a gigantic creature, before he spoke. "I did!"

For a moment, there was silence. Then-

**"_Who are you? And how dare you-"_**

Naruto glared at the ceiling. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And I wouldn't have signed it if you hadn't tried to _eat _us!"

"Yeah!" Sayuri nodded, trying to glare in the same place he was. "We didn't do anything to you!"

**_"Uzumaki?" _**

For a moment, the voice was silent, as if the castle was confused. However, it swiftly recovered itself. _**"You trespassed-"**_

"Actually," said Takeshi, his voice growing stronger as his annoyance overcame his fear, "we knocked and the door opened! That seemed a pretty clear invitation inside! If you didn't want us in, then you could've just said so instead of trying to kill us!"

The voice answered, though it sounded slightly less sure of itself.** _"I am the summon of Kubisaki Kouza, the greatest lord this land had ever seen! When I could not defend him, I vowed to destroy his enemies, and I will not break that promise-"_**

"You _have _killed them, though!" Takeshi shouted. "They attacked over fifty years ago, there's none of them left! All you're doing now is attacking innocent people!"

"Besides," Naruto decided to point out, "even if there were any of them left, what would be the point? They're not attacking you now, and I don't think that your old summoner would be happy about you killing random people."

**"_I...I have to continue. Kouza was the last of my summoners; without him, we had no one else to summon us, and I cannot move from this spot unless I return home. Doing so, however, would mean that I could not be summoned back to this world, and we would never be able to regain the honour we lost by losing the battle against the enemy and allowing our summoner to die. Better that we are feared as the monster of the castle than left to be forgotten in disgrace."_**

Naruto frowned, hoping that the summon would listen to what he had to say next. "Why don't you come with us then? If I'm your new summoner, then you'll be able to go home without having to worry about not being able to return, and you wouldn't be breaking your promise, because you've kinda already fulfilled it."

Sayuri nodded. "And it's better than having to pretend to be an old castle that everyone's scared of! Nii-san would never make you stick around for fifty years doing _that_."

The summon didn't reply for a few minutes, and everyone waited with baited breath to hear what its reply would be. If it decided to attack again then Naruto had a feeling that they wouldn't be the winners - the guy had nothing to gain by pretending to be a castle any more, and would probably just crush them flat.

**_"You have...impressed me, child. However, in order to prove themselves worthy of being the summoner for our family, the previous holders of the contract had to show a member of our family that they were worthy first. I shall return home, and you may summon me in a day's time to prove to me that you are truly worthy of being our new summoner. Until then, I will say goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto."_**

Naruto gave a sigh of relief. He had done it! And even better, he now had a chance to prove himself worthy of actually getting his own summon! Belatedly Naruto realized that he probably should have asked what the creature actually was...Hopefully something that wasn't scared of snakes...

"Um...Nii-san? The floor's going see-through."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

Sayuri pointed downwards, and as Naruto followed her gaze, he saw that the floor was turning transparent, as was the walls and the furniture in the hall beneath them. But before he could open his mouth to tell the others that they should probably get out of there, the floor vanished completely, and he found himself tumbling towards the ground.

* * *

Kushina frowned as she stared at the pictures in front of her, the small fire she had started casting a flickering orange light over their contents. Utakata had gone to have a wash in a nearby river, and she had declined his offer to go first, wanting to have a good look at the photos from Naruto's file while there was still enough light to examine them comfortably.

She didn't really know why she was doing this. She had read the files, she knew what had happened to her son, what he was capable of (or at least what Orochimaru _thought _he was capable of. The Sannin had clearly thought Naruto was resigned to his fate as his vessel, and Naruto had definitely proved that wrong). It wasn't doing her any good by dwelling over the photographs that documented Orochimaru's warping of her son, but something was still niggling at her about them.

She lifted up the most recent picture, staring into her child's eyes. They were certainly very distinctive, and she could see why Orochimaru had been excited about them. The Rinnegan was meant to be a relic of ancient legends, while the sharingan was nearly extinct after Uchiha Itachi's little genocide. That the DNA transplants (and Kushina didn't want to admit how it frightened her, the thought that there might be another Rinnegan user out there that probably wasn't friendly) had actually worked was probably a medical miracle.

And yet...

Naruto's seal had been weakened. Kushina had read about the seizures he had had, about how his system had been flooded with poisonous chakra that left him writhing in horrible pain, about how there were times when it had been considered risking extracting the Kyuubi early in case the creature ever did manage to get past the seal. Thankfully, those times seemed to have died down, and Orochimaru had decided to go ahead at the decided schedule. It was understandable that the seal would have been damaged by the constant transplants, but had slowly, if not repaired, then stabilized after a while.

But...Minato's seal had been a work of art, something far more impressive than his Hirashin technique, even if most ninja wouldn't have seen it that way. It shouldn't have broken down so quickly, not even with the amount of meddling Orochimaru had done to Naruto's body. And once it had broken down, the attempts by Kyuubi to get out, or whatever the bijuu was trying to achieve by attacking Naruto's body with its chakra, should not have suddenly stopped. It might have come as a relief to the people of Oto, but Kushina couldn't bring herself to believe that the Kyuubi had just given up.

No, something had happened to the seal - and whatever it was, it had begun after Naruto received his Rinnegan transplant. Kushina didn't know if there was a link between the two, but she knew that the sooner she found her son the better.

Naruto had enough problems already without an incredibly unstable seal being added to the mix.

* * *

Naruto landed on the ground with a muffled thud, grimacing as he felt his legs absorb the impact. Thankfully, they hadn't been that high up when the floor vanished, or it could have been a lot messier.

He gently placed the contract scroll drop on the ground, not wanting the castle-guy to think that he was mistreating the new contract. He didn't know how they were going to test his worth as a summoner, but he figured that it would probably be some sort of fight - he had heard rumours in Oto that that was how Orochimaru had gotten the snakes to obey him; by beating Manda until the snake acknowledged his strength and agreed to be his new summon.

Well, Naruto was pretty sure that there had been a few sacrifices involved as well, but if the summons were the sort to demand human lives, then Naruto didn't want to use them.

However, his thoughts were interrupted by a quiet cough, and he turned to see Takeshi, who was looking at the empty space where the castle used to be.

"It's not going to come back and suddenly eat us, is it?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so. Besides," he nodded at the large scroll, "we've got their summoning contract. Even if they did, we could just quickly destroy it."

Takeshi nodded, bending down to help the white-haired girl to her feet. She was looking dazed, as if she didn't quite know what was going on, and Naruto decided that now was probably not the time to start interrogating her about what had happened with the paper-user - though he fully intended to get to the bottom of it when they managed to find a place to settle for the night.

As if she had read his mind, Sayuri glanced up at the dark sky. It seemed to have stopped raining (hell for all Naruto knew, that had been something cooked up by the summons to lure them inside the castle) but there were still some ominous clouds remaining. "Are we going to stay here tonight, nii-san?"

Naruto nodded, glancing at the surrounded trees. "Yeah - there's enough cover, and there doesn't appear to be anyone else around-"

"Good," said Takeshi, and though he looked a bit nervous, there was nothing but determination in his voice. "So we can get settled down - and I guess we can finally finish our talk, Naruto."

**I am really, really, really, really sorry about how long it took to get this chapter out. I will only say that real life interferes a lot with my writing, and that I am hoping I can update more regularly from now on, although I can make no promises. ****Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Perfection**

**I don't own Naruto.**

They sat facing each across a small fire, forming a rough square that was big enough for one of them to get up and start to run before the others could grab them. He and Takeshi were staring directly at each other, Sayuri was rocking back and forth, her joints clicking as she looked at both of them, ready to spring into action if necessary, while Kiyoshi huddled in the shadows, looking as if she was desperately trying to wake up from a nightmare. Naruto doubted that he'd need the space - he hated running away, and Takeshi wasn't a big enough threat for him to swallow that dislike - but then again, he still didn't know exactly how skilled Takeshi or the girl really were.

But he intended to find out.

It was Takeshi who started off though, arms folded as he leaned forward, making sure to look Naruto directly in the eye. "Okay. Talk."

Naruto glanced at Sayuri before looking back at him. "What do you want to know?"

Takeshi made an impatient noise, waving his hand. "Everything! Who _are _you? Where are you from? Are you a shinobi? What are you doing now? What did you do back in that town - you know, when you _blew it up? _What do jinchuuriki have to do with you? What...What happened to Sayuri? If you're with a village, why aren't you with them?"

All of that was said without taking a single breath, and Takeshi looked quite winded by the end of it. However, the determination in his eyes never wavered, and Naruto nodded slowly. There really wasn't any point to hiding any more - subtlety had never been his strong suit, and he had already slipped up in front of these guys. And if they couldn't be trusted...

He could take them down. He was sure of it.

"Okay." Naruto took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. "It's a long story."

Takeshi glanced up at the faint gleam of moonlight visible through the leaves above them. "We're not going anywhere."

"He's right, nii-san," Sayuri muttered, her fingers twisting a blade of grass back and forth, head ducked down to avoid his look. "We've got lots of time."

Damn. He had kind of been hoping for some back-up in that direction...but then again, Sayuri didn't know that much about him either, only what had happened in Oto, and she didn't know that much about that either. She'd probably be curious too.

"Fine." Naruto raised his head, looking at Takeshi. "You remember when I told you about bijuu?"

Kiyoshi stiffened, but she didn't say anything, her eyes fixed intently on the flames. Takeshi looked unsure at Naruto's question, but nodded his head slowly. "Yeah - they're demons, they're really powerful, and I'm guessing that that...dog thing we saw was one of 'em." He glanced in Kiyoshi's direction, but she ignored him, her head bowed as she stared into the fire. "What have they got to do with this?"

Naruto shrugged, trying to squash the nervous feeling in his gut. "Everything, really."

Takeshi frowned. "How? I mean, I know that that woman and those people back at the town wanted them, but why? What can they do?"

"I said they were powerful, remember? Really, really powerful. Most of them could destroy villages without breaking a sweat, and there were guys out there who thought that they could find a way to use them as weapons."

Takeshi's voice was quiet. "Did they?"

Well, this was it, Naruto supposed. "Yeah. They made jinchuuriki out of them."

That finally got a reaction out of Kiyoshi as her head snapped up, her weak chakra fluctuating wildly. Looking at her, Naruto found it hard to believe that she'd been created as a weapon - the occasional flicker of a dark purple chakra amongst the pale green of the girl's own was the only sign that there might be something strange about her chakra. Granted, he hadn't seen any other jinchuuriki apart from her, so he didn't have much to compare her with apart from himself, but it still looked like it wouldn't be very easy to draw on her bijuu's chakra.

So how _had_ she managed to manifest its full form?

Feeling someone tug at his sleeve, he looked over to see Sayuri. She wasn't bothering to force her face into any expression, and it looked eerily blank in the flickering light.

"Yeah, but nii-san...What _are_ jinchuuriki?"

Naruto grimaced. "They're people with bijuu sealed inside of them. It lets them use the bijuu's power, but it's really hard to control." According to Kabuto anyway, and while Naruto hated the guy almost as much as Orochimaru, he didn't think that using a bijuu's power sounded that good either - that, and he'd just had a front-row seat to what had happened when someone did use it, and judging from the charred hole they had found her in, she hadn't handled it too well.

"Wait!" Takeshi held up a hand, looking bewildered. "Sealed? You mean they actually have..._You _have a demon inside you? As in, _inside_ inside you?"

Naruto shrugged, trying to hide a sudden twist of nervousness. Takeshi's tone was more shocked than repulsed, but he could still remember being back in Konoha, unable to understand why all the adults avoided him. why only the old man seemed to want to acknowledge that he was there. "Yep. It's how they get access to their chakra, but you can't get the bijuu out without killing the jinchuuriki."

"That's..." Naruto watched his face twist as he struggled to find the right words. "Why would anyone _do_ that to themselves?"

Although his question was directed at Naruto, Takeshi's gaze flickered over to Kiyoshi, looked back at him, her expression wary and confused. Naruto, however, felt a surge of anger at the suggestion that he had _chosen_ to have the Kyuubi shoved into him, that he let Konoha put it into him because he wanted power, like Orochimaru. "They don't," he bit out. "Bijuu are normally sealed in jinchuuriki when they're kids, babies, even. No one _chooses_ it."

Well, they didn't as far as he knew. Naruto was aware that, despite the scrolls he had looked through so far, there was a lot he didn't know about both jinchuuriki and bijuu, and so he supposed that there was a chance that he was wrong about only being able to use babies to seal bijuu into...but he had never seen another jinchuuriki apart from Kiyoshi, who was his own age, and he doubted that she had been able to seal a bijuu into herself.

Takeshi looked taken aback by the venom in his tone, but his features quickly shifted from bewilderment to what looked like embarrassment. "Oh...Okay, then. But...if you didn't do it to yourself, who did it to you? You're not old enough to have been born in a war, so why would you need to be one?"

"It wasn't to make a weapon," Naruto explained, wishing that he knew if that was true or not. He didn't want to have to rely on what Orochimaru had told him - he didn't trust that snake nearly as far as he could throw him, and he knew that Orochimaru had been jealous of the Yondaime getting chosen to lead the village instead of him - but, unfortunately, he was the only person who had talked to him about it, and the knowledge that he had provided was all Naruto had to go on. "On the day I was born, one of the bijuu attacked my village. The only way to stop it was to seal it in someone, and I was the only one there that they could seal it into."

The reactions of the other three were mixed. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Kiyoshi, who was now staring at him, looking shocked, while Sayuri was looking very indignant about something. Naruto only hoped that it was the idea about him being made into a jinchuuriki without being asked, and not about the fact that he had been keeping it a secret from her as well. He really didn't want to be on Sayuri's bad side.

Takeshi closed his eyes briefly, as if trying to think something through. "Which one?"

"What?"

"You told me that there were nine of them. And that some were more powerful than others. Which one did they put in you?"

"Kyuubi."

The word was a faint whisper, and Naruto looked over to see Kiyoshi's pale blue eyes fixed on him, her body shifted into a crouch that reminded him of a wounded animal. She stared back at him, and he was abruptly reminded of the fact that, somehow, her bijuu had escaped the seal that bound it, and what was left over had not been pretty.

He nodded slowly. "How'd you guess?"

She made a small, quick gesture at his face, and Naruto realised that she was pointing at the three pairs of lines that had been on his cheeks for as long as he could remember. "The whiskers...You don't smell of death."

Belatedly, Naruto remembered of what he'd read of the bijuu. There was a lot that he didn't know, but he did know that they each had an animal that they mostly resembled, like the Kyuubi being a giant fox - and the Nibi being a large cat. He didn't know much about the rest of them, but if those two were the only ones with whiskers, he guessed it was pretty easy to work out the answer - if he had power over death, he'd definitely have been flinging it around in that stupid castle.

Takeshi drummed his fingers against the ground. "The Kyuubi...that's the strongest of them, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Naruto saw a strange expression flicker across the older boy's face for a moment, but he couldn't tell what it was - he sucked at being able to read people, and he knew it.

"Well, that's just..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "So, that's why those people back in the town were after you? Because they want the Kyuubi?"

Naruto felt a flash of anger at the mention of the now dead shinobi. "Yeah. I guess they think it's too dangerous to let me walk around, in case I let it out and it goes after them. But I don't think that they're the only ones looking for it. That woman who came to the village - she wanted you for yours, didn't she?"

The question was directed at Kiyoshi, who nodded slowly, her shoulders slumping. Takeshi looked sharply at her. "Which one do you have, then? I didn't count the tails..."

"Gobi." She didn't look at any of them, staring down at her hands as she mumbled the words, each one sounding like a struggle to bring forth. "It...came to my village years ago. It was weak...sleeping...It's chakra wasn't as strong as the others, but it had genjutsu...When it came, it trapped all the shinobi in their minds...Crushed half the village because no one could get out of it...But it didn't get everyone. Obaa-chan knew how to seal it. She put it in me. She said that no one had sealed it in a jinchuuriki for decades...That no village would come looking for it."

"But someone else did?"

"Stranger...Not a ninja from our village. We'd never seen her before. She followed us home. She said that she was from Akatsuki...that they needed the power of the bijuu. We tried to run." Her voice dropped to a low whisper as she shifted her gaze back to the fire. "She...she killed Obaa-chan. So I...I let the Gobi out-"

"You _what?"_

Kiyoshi shrank back from Takeshi's furious cry, while Naruto frantically hissed for him to be quiet. Takeshi ignored the warning, glaring angrily at her instead. "You let that thing out? Did you see what it did?"

"I had to - she was going to _kill me_-"

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but it did a bit more than kill_ you_-"

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped, glancing warily at the trees. There was no one springing out of the shadows to attack them, but he knew that acting stupidly - as, he admitted to himself, they kinda had in the castle, walking in blindly and then splitting up - was going to get them killed - or worse, dragged back to Oto. Besides, what Kiyoshi said was definitely something new to consider. He'd always thought that the only people who'd be interested in the Kyuubi was Konoha - he wasn't stupid, he knew that it was really powerful, but he didn't think that anyone would go trooping around after it, especially going to the point of entering a ninja village and killing someone there for it. The fact that someone - Akatsuki...what the hell was that? - was going around doing that, and not just for one bijuu, wasn't a nice thought.

Takeshi gave Kiyoshi a last look of disgust, then deliberately turned his back to her, looking at Naruto. "Okay, so you're getting hunted down for the Kyuubi. But then, why are you out of your village? If you were born in Konoha, then why aren't you there now? I mean, if you have the Kyuubi then I'm guessing that they wouldn't want you running around everywhere."

"They probably don't," Naruto admitted. "But I haven't been in Konoha in years."

Takeshi blinked. "Why?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Sayuri turn her face away. She knew what was coming, even if the other two had no idea. This was the part that Naruto really hadn't been looking forward to talking about - but he'd promised that he'd say everything.

"Have you ever heard of Orochimaru?"

* * *

Sumaru had no idea how long he'd been running. Everything hurt, from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and exhaustion was beginning to sap away at his strength. But he wouldn't stop. He _couldn't _stop, not until he was far, far away from Hoshigakure, not until he was sure that no one could find him.

He had spent ages stumbling along in the dark, unable to find his way out of the cramped, dusty tunnels, and utterly terrified that someone was going to find him. Eventually, he'd found a door - found it by running head-first into it - which had led into the tiny, musty cellar of one of the older houses in Hoshigakure. He didn't know who lived there, but there hadn't been anyone in the building when he made his way upstairs, and so he had been able to make his way outside undetected. There wouldn't be many ninja out and about in the village at this time of night - only the guards at the village's entrance and at the dojo where the star was kept - and he knew enough about the village he'd grown up in to be able to find a way to slip past them.

He didn't know what was going to happen then. He hadn't been out of the village many times before, and he didn't know where he was going to go. Part of him wanted to run to an adult, to find someone who could help - but he couldn't. They'd sent him off with the others, they'd let he and his friends be taken down to that place, and...Now he knew he couldn't trust any of them, even as he longed to stop running and go back home.

Sumaru swallowed as he ducked around a corner, doing his best to choke back a sudden wave of nausea. He had never felt so wretched, not even on that horrible day when the Hoshikage had sat him down and told him that his parents had fallen against foreign ninja, and he wished he knew what they had done to him - he couldn't explain it, but something didn't feel normal, didn't feel _right, _even without the burning pain or the fact that he felt like he was going to be violently sick. What had the Hoshikage said? That they were going to be going through 'special training', that it would make them better ninja, make them stronger-

He shivered as he heard a shout in the distance. He might have survived what had been done to him, but he didn't feel strong at all. He felt alone, sick, and very, very scared.

* * *

Naruto didn't bother to mince his words - whatever _that_ meant - about what had happened in Oto. He didn't go into much detail, and he certainly didn't mention the full circumstances about what had happened to Sayuri - he still burned with the shame of not being able to help her that night, and he couldn't bear the idea of having to admit to her that it had been his hand, not that of some faceless Oto scientist, that had wielded the tools to make her into what she was. But it was still a while before he was finished talking, and both Takeshi and Kiyoshi were looking fairly sick by the time he was done.

"So, let me get this straight. This guy...Orocha-"

"-Orochimaru-"

"Fine, Orochimaru...He kidnapped you, locked you up for years, experimented on you...and he did it because he wants to _steal your body?_"

On seconds thoughts, maybe he could have cut it down a little more.

"That's basically it, yeah."

"But..." Takeshi looked at him, and Naruto knew what he was seeing - the rippled eyes, the stitches, the silvered hair. "_Why_?"

"He's evil," said Sayuri, her tone matter-of-fact, her face devoid of any expression. "There's no one nice in that place." She looked up at him, and smiled brightly, the sudden change a bit disconcerting. "No one but nii-san. And he's stronger than any of them, 'cept Orochimaru."

Naruto didn't bother to correct her that Orochimaru also had people like Kabuto and Guren, both of whom he was pretty sure could take him down if they ever had a straight up fight. Instead, he smiled grimly at Takeshi, glad to find someone outside of Sayuri who wasn't either cowed by Orochimaru or happily worshipping the ground he walked on. "He wants to live forever, so he has to keep on swapping bodies every couple of years - and he's obsessed with kekkei genkai. That's why he needed me - most people die when you try to transfer a bloodline to them, so he had to have someone who could survive it happening over and over again." He looked over at Sayuri. "Though he does a lot of other experiments as well."

Takeshi shuddered. "That's...that's _sick. _And Konoha just _gave_ you to him?"

Naruto thought of the old man, of how happy he'd been whenever he showed up to take him out for ramen, of how he had watched in awe at how everyone respected him, of how he'd wanted to become Hokage to see the same respect and love in people's eyes when they looked at him, instead of cold indifference. And then he remembered the old man's office, remembered getting knocked out and waking up in Oto, and Kabuto telling him how his village had happily handed him over to them.

"Yeah. It wasn't just me though, there were a lot of other people there, from a lot of other villages. I don't know how he got them all, but some of them were shinobi. Some people should have gone looking for them."

Takeshi gulped. "Okay. So this guy, or the people working for him, are strong enough to grab shinobi, and he's either sneaky enough to be able to get them without people able to find out who took them, or he's scary enough able to get them handed over. And if he put all of that work into you, he's going to come after you, isn't he?"

Naruto winced. "...Probably."

For a few minutes, there was no sound in the clearing apart from the crackle of the flames as everyone contemplated that piece of information - well, as Takeshi and Kiyoshi did. Naruto had known from the beginning that escaping Oto would not be a one-off thing, that he and Sayuri were going to spend a long time, if not the rest of their lives running from it. But then, Takeshi and Kiyoshi didn't have that threat - the only reason Oto would go after them was if they were with him.

"...I'm staying."

Though he tried to, Naruto couldn't quite keep the surprise off his face. "Really?"

Takeshi nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I don't have anywhere else to go - and if you've got all of that stuff, then being with you is probably safer than breing on my own. Besides...I guess I sorta owe you for...you know, getting us out alive back there."

Naruto felt a flare of relief at this news - although he didn't want to admit it, the thought of travelling with only Sayuri while being chased by Oto wasn't a very comforting one. He knew that there were loads of stuff that he didn't know, things that he had to know if he was going to survive for long outside Oto, and even if Takeshi wasn't that much older than he was, he could help teach him. But he also knew that Otogakure wasn't the only danger out there - and that he wasn't the only one running from something.

"You can stay, but I want to know what happened to _you_. You said you'd tell-"

"Tell you where I came from," Takeshi finished, leaning back with a look that seemed strangely unconcerned, considering his demeanor in the castle. "Yeah, I remember. There's not much to tell, really. I'm from Kiri."

Naruto blinked. "Kirigakure?"

"Yep." His voice was flat, his gaze unfocused as he tilted his head back to look at the sky. "Suppose you wouldn't know, but...a while back, people from the clans there started going missing. Hunted. Turns out that people were getting fed up with us after the wars, and...well, they took matters into their own hands. We went into hiding, but they found us pretty quickly. Killed everyone there, except for me - locked me up in the prison instead. Said that they were building a pyre, that they were going to burn us in a couple of weeks. Dunno why they didn't just kill us when they found us...But the prison's seals failed. I got out. And then I found you guys."

Naruto was struggling a little to wrap his head around the concepts of people being butchered for being part of a clan - having come from Oto, where kekkei genkais were more than prized, they could mean life or death, he couldn't work out why Kiri would want to kill off such a asset. But then, he'd learned long ago that the world didn't quite make sense, especially when it came to the behavior of adults. Takeshi's tale certainly wasn't pleasant, but he'd seen far worse in Oto, and he wasn't quite sure what to say. Luckily, Sayuri butted in for him.

"You're part of a clan? So, you've got a kekkei genkai like nii-san?"

Takeshi cast a wary glance at Naruto. "Not exactly like him, but..."

He produced a senbon and, ignoring Kiyoshi's start at the weapon, dug it into his palm, holding the injured hand up so that they could see the wound and the blood trickling from it. Naruto didn't understand until Takeshi gave a flick of his wrist, and suddenly the red liquid lashed into the air. As Naruto watched, it solidified into a bubbling mass that then formed into an exact copy of the senbon. The weapon held its shape for a moments before melting and reforming into half a dozen others, only some of which Naruto made out - a shuriken, a kunai, a razor thin wire - before evaporating completely. As Takeshi lowered his hand, Naruto saw that the wound had already sealed up.

Sayuri, however, was unimpressed. "That's it?"

"No!" Takeshi snapped, looking offended. "There's loads more - using someone's blood against them, spreading disease, finding and copying stuff in the body, and...well, look, I haven't been doing this thing for long. I'll be a lot better at it one day."

Naruto shrugged, though he was secretly a bit disappointed himself. "If they locked you up and you escaped...How much would they want to get you back?"

Takeshi shrugged. "Not that much, I don't think...I mean, I didn't even make it to genin before this all started, and I don't know any important village secrets, or clan stuff for that matter. I mean, there was probably hunter-nin looking through that area, and if they caught me, they'd kill me or take me back there...but I don't think they'd go chasing after me into enemy territory. Probably wouldn't even put up a bounty."

Naruto relaxed slightly. At least that was one enemy then that they wouldn't have to worry about, as he had no intention of going anywhere near Kiri. "Okay then - I don't see a problem with you coming with us then.

Takeshi smiled then, even if it was a little like a grimace. "Well...thanks for that. Probably a good thing too...I mean, considering what's happening tomorrow."

Naruto tried not to wince at the thought of the castle's order to summon whatever it truly was in order to prove himself worthy of being a permanent summoner. He didn't know what kind of thing the summon actually was, but something that had thing shapeshifted itself into a castle and eaten anyone who came in for fifty years probably wasn't going to set him anything easy to do.

* * *

The talk had given them a lot to think about, and it was a long time before anyone slept. However, that night's adventures had taken their toll, and soon everyone's eyes had slowly closed as they at last succumbed to the need to sleep. Kiyoshi lay awake for the longest, her mind in turmoil as her body still ached from the effects of the Gobi's chakra on her system. But eventually, even she fell unconscious, only it wasn't a dream she slipped into.

She found herself standing back in the forest, but it looked very different from her last visit. The air was heavy with smoke that stung her eyes and made her cough, the trees had been reduced to charred stumps, the undergrowth razed to ash. But the worse damage of all was to the gates of the Gobi's cage. The metal had been warped and bent, not far enough for the creature to be able to slip free, but enough to create a significant gap in the once impenetrable cage. And most damning of all, the seal attached to the cage, her grandmother's best work, the true prison of the Gobi, was dry and stained, the ink running across the cracked parchment. Behind it, the Gobi lay sleeping, its heavy breathing the only sound she could hear.

Sleeping. For now. Because the seal was all that held it back, the seal that was damaged, almost broken, because she had opened it, she had disobeyed the order that obaa-chan had made her promise to never do, she was so _stupid-_

The Gobi wasn't a liar, but it didn't need to be - that was how it had got by, being the weakest of the bijuu apart from its genjutsu. It was clever, it was cunning, it knew how to trick mortals. It had stepped in with its offer when her grandmother, the only person she loved, the person it hated most of all, had been murdered, it had gone out and destroyed the village that had escaped it when it was sealed, and then it had gone back inside her, knowing that Kiyoshi, its jailer, the one entrusted with keeping it locked away, opening up its prison willingly would weaken the seal far more than any brute force ever would.

How long would the seal hold now? How much more of the Gobi's poisonous chakra could it take before it failed completely?

She didn't know. She didn't know anything any more. Her village was gone. Obaa-chan was gone. She was trapped with a group of strangers, who had rescued her but who didn't trust her - and she didn't trust them, she didn't know anything about them apart from the fact that they had been like her, that they had been trapped and scared and alone...and they hadn't done what she had done.

That boy, that strange-eyed boy - Naruto - he was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Her grandmother had set her on seals as soon as she could read, genjutsu as soon as she could mold chakra, but it was Kiyoshi herself who had read through the scrolls on the other bijuu, who had wanted to know about the people like her. And she knew that the Gobi was nothing next to the Kyuubi, that its illusions and elements were easily swept aside by the sheer raw power that each of the nine tails contained. If Naruto unleashed it, what could he do?

He'd have been able to hurt the people who hurt him. Not like her. She had broken every promise she ever made her grandmother, betrayed her purpose as a jinchuuriki, killed everyone in her village - _what if Obaa-chan wasn't dead, what if she could still see, what if she **knew -**_ and let the Gobi finally finish what it had started. And it was all for nothing.

The woman had not come for Kinugakure. She might have even let her grandmother go, if only Kiyoshi had gone with her. She wouldn't have attacked the village, unlike the Gobi. And her grandmother had sacrificed her to the village before, her and others. Kiyoshi didn't know much about her father, but the Gobi had whispered enough to her over the years. He was weak, weaker than Obaa-chan, proud and stupid. Kiyoshi had never felt much for her parents save contempt, her father for leading the Gobi to the village and starting it all, her mother for perishing within genjutsu, the art as familiar to Kiyoshi as her own heartbeat. But her grandmother must have loved him, and she'd given him up anyway, for the sake of her village.

If the choice had been put to her, she'd have given up Kiyoshi as well. Protecting the village was her life's triumph, and Kiyoshi had snuffed out that legacy the moment she opened the gate.

Kiyoshi wasn't sure how long she stood there, staring quietly into the Gobi's cage as it slumbered. It was powerful, it was evil, and she hated it. But she was its jailer, and that was all she had now. She wasn't a ninja, she had no family, she belonged to no village. But she was still a jinchuuriki.

She still had a job to do. And she was going to do it properly.

"I'm never going to let you out again." Her voice quavered, but there was no one around to hear it other than the sleeping Gobi, and the thought gave her courage. "I won't use your chakra. I won't call on you ever again. You can stay in here forever - you can _die _here. I won't break my word either."

She had raised her voice as she talked, until it echoed around the desolate clearing, but still the Gobi did not wake. That was fine with Kiyoshi. She had not expected an answer - truthfully, she did not think that she could deal with one.

Slowly, she turned around and walked out of the clearing. She did not look back.

* * *

There wasn't much chatter as everyone woke up and ate breakfast the next day. They were still pondering all that they had learned the night before, as well as now glancing nervously at the shadows for these new enemies that they'd now have to face. Yet, oddly enough, there was also a sense of relief now. Everyone had come clean - or, at least they'd appeared to - those enemies now had names, and if they were still unsure of where they were going to go from there, there were a sense that they could at least trust the people that they were with to be able to have their back without putting a knife into it.

Or maybe that was because, as Takeshi had pointed out, they now had a more immediate challenge to face now. There was a heavy tension in the air as Naruto gently unrolled the summoning scroll over the ground, taking care to not let it snag against the tree roots or get it muddy. In the daylight, he could see a great deal more detail, and he had to admit that he was impressed. The contract was far longer than he had originally thought, metres and metres of parchment tightly rolled up, and there were dozens upon dozens of names written there, from his own freshly dried untidy scrawl, to names so old that the kanjii had almost faded completely.

This was definitely a major summoning contract, and he had to admit that he was impressed by the lord of the castle, who'd managed to not only summon but gain the respect of whatever the hell this creature was, when there were plenty of ninja who couldn't even dream of doing something like that.

And now he'd have to try to prove himself instead. Well, this was going to be...interesting, he guessed.

Everyone else gathered to watch him from a few feet away, no doubt ready to get out of there if there were any problems with the summoning (although he was kind of hoping that they'd stick around to help him out if that was the case. He had no desire to get crushed into the ground or digested for eternity in some monstrous creature's stomach).

Well, here went nothing. Taking a deep breath, Naruto bit his thumb and swiped it across the parchment.

At once, his vision was obscured by an explosion of white smoke, accompanied by a series of muffled thuds, as if something heavy had just hit the ground. He heard a cry of alarm from Sayuri, and one hand darted for his sword, but the smoke was already clearing and for the first time he saw the creature's true form.

Towering above them, its huge form casting them all into shadow, was a gigantic lizard, a type of which Naruto had never seen before. Its enormous head was crowned with three curving horns, its scales were bright green with flecks of blue, its feet, each one big enough to crush their entire group into the ground, were tong-shaped with each toe tipped with a sharp claw, and its red eyes were larger than Naruto's entire body. He could hear the awed murmurs of the others as they stared up at it, but he couldn't look away from the creature. It was magnificent, it was more than slightly terrifying, and Naruto couldn't quite suppress a gulp when one of those eyes swivelled down to look at him.

**"So, Uzumaki Naruto. You decided to call me forth and face my challenge."**

"Yeah," Naruto nodded his head, not really sure what else he was meant to do. The lizard's eyes flickered from him to the others, before turning to look at the trees.

**"This land has changed, I see." **The lizard's rumbling voice had not changed from when it was disguised as a castle, but its tone lacked the anger and desperation that had been present when they confronted it. **"For over two hundred years, my people stood with the lords of this land as they lived, fought and died to protect it. Now, you would call me to leave that legacy to follow a new lineage, to have a child as a summoner when we once stood behind warriors. If you wish us to obey you, you must prove yourself to be as worthy as they, in more than battle, but in bravery, strength of will and perseverance."**

Naruto nodded again, this time more eagerly. "What do you want us to do?"

For a few moments, the creature remained silent. Then its eyes lowered back down to look at him, and Naruto shivered slightly under the weight of its gaze. **"Our first summoner was the bride of Koza's ancestor, a great and honourable woman. Her skills in battle were matched only by her mastery of fuinjutsu. It was she who sought us out, she who created the contract you see before you, and we have served her and her line ever since. But the contract was made before her marriage, and her kin were permitted to sign as well, after they had proven themselves worthy, and that skill was also passed down through their descendants. Even after my final summon, my children continued to serve them. Since my return to my home realm, however, I have discovered that even those summons have ceased. The lines have been extinguished, the last summoners have fallen, their home destroyed. But their legacy...their true treasure...is not so easily destroyed."**

The lizard's tail twisted, and Naruto heard Takeshi curse as the three were forced to duck suddenly to avoid getting knocked backwards. **"Complete this task for me, Uzumaki Naruto. Go to the ruins of our summoner's homeland. Retrieve their legacy and restore their name to greatness once more. Do so, and I and my children will forever more fight by you and your kin and make our enemies remember the true might of our people."**

It appeared that the lizard had said all that it meant to, but Naruto had spotted a slight flaw in the instructions they had been given. "Wait! You didn't tell us the name of your old summoners - you didn't even say where we're meant to go!"

The lizard's eyes glittered. **"Their name means nothing without the legacy; you may discover it once your task is done. But as for where you should look...Their home lies within Uzu no Kuni, in the village that was once the pride of that land. To find their legacy, you must go to the place of whirlpools - to the lost village of ****Uzushiogakure."**

* * *

***Takes deep breath***

**I am very, very, very, very sorry for the wait for this chapter. If it makes any of you feel better, I was waiting for it as desperately as you were - unfortunately, real life and writer's block once again made themselves known, and impeded my writing for a very long time. If there is a lesson to be learned from this, I suppose it's that I should stop making promises about updating soon, as every time I do that, something inevitably seems to pop up and get in the way.**

**In other news, as my beta sadly seems to have gone AWOL, if anyone's interested in taking in the spot, please drop me a line, as I'm hoping to go through this chapter and previous ones to fix up any mistakes that went unchecked, though there shouldn't be any need for anyone to reread them after it's done. **

**And now, please review!**


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